A pier into the future? As work starts on the i360, the West Pier Trust is once more daring to look out to sea
Could a new West Pier be on the horizon? The West Pier Trust is asking members what should happen next now that work has started on the i360.
The trust board said: “Over the past few years the focus of the West Pier Trust has been on securing the delivery of the i360.
“It will make an important annual financial contribution to the trust through rent and a proportion of the ticket sales.
“With the finance secure and the construction of the i360 now under way, the West Pier Trust can now look to the next chapter of development of the West Pier site with optimism.”
The trust board has floated three options:
- Do nothing, allowing the “sea island” structure to deteriorate naturally, but otherwise make no use of the site of the former pier.
- Seek a predominantly promenade pier – ie, a new pier which would prioritise the ability to walk above the water but otherwise contain little or no commercial activity.
- Seek a more commercial solution – a pier with pedestrian access along its length and a commercial element, all consistent with planning policy and the preservation of key views along the seafront and out to sea.
Members have until Friday 12 September to respond and the consultation will be opened out to the wider community later.
The trust flagged up the consultation at the end of last month, hours before fire tore through another pier built by the West Pier’s architect Eugenius Birch.
Firefighters from Preston Circus in Brighton and from Hove were among the East Sussex Fire and Rescue crews fighting the flames in Eastbourne. Meanwhile, in Hastings, there are grounds for optimism that another Eugenius Birch pier might rise from the ashes.
But first the i360 needs to succeed. Much rests on the shoulders of Marks Barfield – the husband-and-wife architectural practice behind the project.
Brighton and Hove City Council hopes to make £1 million a year from the scheme. And it hopes to see a revival of the fortunes of Preston Street, which used to be where Brighton and Hove went out for a meal.
“Replacing and renewing our Victorian and Regency heritage is not a new issue”
If the i360 is part of a bigger picture, the same could be said for the prospect of a new pier. A renovation is, of course, impossible now and a rebuild or pastiche looks unlikely.
The £46 million observation tower – the “doughnut on a stick” – will be perched next to ten restored arches which opened a fortnight ago. The £5 million outlay will bring in rent for the council and business rates too.
But the shopping, tourism and tax revenue aspects are not the full picture. The ageing arches hold up the A259 seafront road.
The hole in the road above the Fortune Of War pub is a warning of a wider problem. Likewise, the closure of the Riptide Gym and the crumbling Madeira Terraces.
And the best guesstimates suggest that the council needs to spend £80 million or more to deal with it – from the West Pier to Black Rock.
Politicians and officials are casting around for answers, including where to find the money and how quickly to do the work.
A scrutiny report, due to be published in the autumn, may help the picture become clearer. Labour councillor Gill Mitchell chaired a series of evidence-gathering sessions earlier this year, with notable contributions from Green councillors Geoffrey Bowden and Ian Davey. Members of the business community also played a key part.
Replacing and renewing our Victorian and Regency heritage is not a new issue. Southern Water has spent years beavering underground to upgrade old sewers – an unlikely tourist attraction in themselves.
A look back in time – to when Steve Bassam was the Labour leader of Brighton Borough Council before it merged with Hove – provides a hint.
After restoring the Royal Pavilion, twice, he came up with a seafront strategy. More than 20 years on, the council is refreshing its strategy to make the most of our eight-mile stretch of coast.
The old string of pearls needs more than just a polish in places.
Looking back further, Brighton has evolved – from fishing village to fashionable resort, from kiss-me-quick daytrippers and dirty weekenders to university town, conference venue and digital incubator.
A new seafront strategy underpinned by a robust approach to investment is needed to secure the future and continue Brighton’s evolution. The i360 and a possible new pier are just the start.
How much money has the West Pier Trust collected from donors over the years for the purpose of “restoring” the West Pier, and what has it spent it all on up until now?
Might it consider giving the money back?
Apart from £100,000 a year rent (which will probably be swallowed up by expenses)where will the money come From?How much does the West Pier Trust owe Marks Barfield? Where has the money that was donated gone?
So sick of journalists’ inability to ask this simple question!
why can you not take it down melt it down to make new steal and then put it back in to a new one and that way some of the old one is still in the new one and you could put it back next to the I sore opps I ment the I 360
Simple Questions:
How much is in the West Pier Trust ?
Why do WPT hide the financial data ?
http://www.westpier.co.uk/about/
“In 1998 the Trust was awarded £14.2m by the Heritage Lottery Fund towards the restoration of the pier.”
Isn’t it about time they gave it back? Or gave it to me instead. I could buy myself a lifetime’s supply of crisps.
For twenty years I’ve been saying to anyone with half an ear to listen: the West Pier site is crying out to be turned over to exhibitiion, experimentation and deployment of renewable energy. It sits exposed to tide, wind, and sun; the universities are up the road bursting with potential innovators, the seafront needs lighting up with overflow electricity – let it flash. Installations would be relatively small scale of course, but as a starter venue and education centre it would be perfect. Planning and Eugenius Birch? I can’t think of a better tribute to that great and whimsical innovator than exploring survival strategies for our future.
I think you will find that the funding was withdrawn after the not very noble owners of the Palace Pier complained . There was about £60,000 in cash when accounts were shown in Dec 2012.The next question is how much did they receive in Donations and what was it spent on.
Sounds like a serial public sector / third sector fat cat to me!
It will be interesting to see if the £6m that Marks Barfield Greed to put into the project was actually banked or was it just a Peper shuffling Exercise?
It looks like a cesspit of corruption to most people of Brighton and that’s a Fact.
What is the point in this we could use that funding for the new i360 for better use like e.g more equipment for hospitals more funding for GP surgerys more parking lots of things but this is ridiculous
I agree, but also what about the council tax that has been squandered in many cases on unnecessary bus lanes and traffic “calming” which could also have been put to better use too such as hospitals and other much needed infrastructure – lets get the fundamentals right before starting to play about with idealist political agendas.
There already have been large cuts to council budgets, though, didn’t you notice?
Yes I did notice. Lots of blocked drains in the 7 Dials area. Easy to notice when the gully pot is blocked and yet they blame the rain ! Cars going past all day speeding now there a money maker !
Cleaning the gully’s is contracted out to “FM Conway” but they don’t actually clean them – nice work if you can get it 🙂
Speeding fines are under the jurisdiction of the police, not the council – but the police don’t enforce the 20mph limits. So what a bloody waste of council money putting them in place!
Maybe if the council at the time of the West Pier’s closure had invested money into fixing the problems while they were still small, we might not be having this debate now.
You’re not wrong, Yolanda. So we can blame the hapless voters of 1974. 🙂
that’s right YS it called ‘Wilful Neglect’
its