The future of Fairfield Halls remains shrouded in doubt after it emerged Croydon Council has committed £30m towards its redevelopment despite having no detailed vision for the venue.

The theatre complex is to close completely for two years next summer, it was essentially confirmed last night, after a Conservative opposition bid to force a rethink failed.

But in a meeting called to scrutinise the proposals, senior council officers admitted they had not decided on a business model for the revamped Fairfield - and could not say how much the project would cost.

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It appears increasingly likely Fairfield Ltd, the company that currently runs the council-owned venue, will cease to exist and will be replaced by external organisations and private companies after ruling Labour councillors intimated they wanted to cut its funding

Jo Negrini, executive director of place, told the meeting the council could not make decisions on the venue's future until it was certain it would close.

She said: "We haven't done any work leading up to the decision because we needed to get the decision first, but it does require sensitivity in actually talking to outside agencies, other types of arts providers, other types of commercial operators, for instance, and we haven't been able to do that external work because it's a very small world in the arts world and we didn't want to do any kind of work that could pre-empt discussions here locally."

Council leader Tony Newman has previously said he wants Fairfield Halls to "outdo the South Bank," which boasts world-renowned venues including the Royal Festival Hall. 

But while council officers and contracted architects have begun design work on what Ms Negrini would be "a very different building" with a "much broader programme," there is not yet a vision for the type of events the venue would host.

In a sign of deteriorating relations between the council and Fairfield Ltd, Simon Thomsett, the company's chief executive, was repeatedly forced by Labour commitee members to justify receiving funding from the authority.

Scrunity chairman Coun Sean Fitzsimons asked: "Can we afford to be providing year-on-year subsidies for culture when we have made a decision previously to cut funding to most other cultural services, and when the budget is so tight?

"I find it difficult to justify any sort of subsidies to Fairfield from now on, personally."

In response Mr Thomsett, who believes the complex may struggle to re-open if it closes fully, said Fairfield brought £6 into the Croydon economy for every £1 of council funding.

He added: "Fairfield represents the soul of the city. If it does not have a soul, all you have is a city with a shopping centre and some flats."

The council initially allocated £12m from its capital budget for Fairfield's revamp, but officers have now said the authority will pay the full £30m costs of the project.

It hopes to recoup £18m on the wider development, which will include flats and a new Croydon College building.

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Fears for Fairfield Halls: Chief executive Simon Thomsett

Private consultants Mott Macdonald estimate a phased closure, as preferred by the Conservatives and Mr Thomsett, would cost the borough an additional £4.8m.

But officers did not say how much money would be allocated for re-launching Fairfield, or redundancy packages and support for the venue's 70 permanent and 150 casual staff.

Mr Thomsett, who proposed a closure over summer 2016 before re-opening the venue for peak season in winter, said had experienced "considerable unease" among promoters and producers.

Graeme Miall, who has booked shows at Fairfield Halls and helped curate the council's Ambition Festival, told the Croydon Guardian: "You could drive a bus through the gaps in the operational plan of what they are looking for this building to achieve.

"At the moment they are building a venue and they don't know what journey it is about to go on.

He added: "I think there is a lot of merit on Fairfield remaining an independent entity. There are going to be a lot of big chain organisations coming into Croydon and Fairfield remaining independent gives them an amazing opportunity to shout and campaign for Croydon in terms of events coming to the venue.

"The positive that came out [of the meeting] is the fact that £30m has been ring-fenced so at least you can see how it will be funded. But a break in continuity in programming, I think is still a massive risk."