TOP film director Mike Leigh has backed community groups facing eviction from their Wivenhoe home.
A youth club and cinema group are among those facing eviction from the Essex County Council-owned Phillip Road Centre on Sunday.
The authority says groups cannot remain in the former school building while approval is requested from the government to declassify the site from education use.
This would allow the county council to sell the site, possibly to community groups.
Mr Leigh, who has won the Palm D’Or and been nominated for seven Oscars, is the patron of Moving Image cinema group based at the centre and has called for County Hall to re-think it’s decision.
Bernard Jenkin, MP for Harwich and North Essex, has also backed the community groups by writing to the Department for Education urging it to speed up the application. He has also asked County Hall to reconsider whether the clubs have to move out in the meantime.
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