This week I wrote to the leaseholder of the Aquarium Terraces site opposite the Palace Pier saying that I want a response in the next couple of weeks with an action plan and timeline for redevelopment of the site.
It’s an eyesore in one of our prime tourist locations and we had expected work to start in September.
I’m not going to stand by and let major projects that bring benefit to our city drift.
We need work to proceed at pace, for regeneration, new infrastructure, modernisation of services and to save our heritage.
We are now about halfway to raising the funds we need to kick-start the Madeira Terraces, with our Heritage Lottery bid primed to go in November.
The Lottery-funded work at the Royal Pavilion and Dome complex is advancing steadily.
Work on the Circus Street site is well under way and work at the long-derelict Preston Barracks site will begin in the next few months, generating jobs and homes for the city.
We have reached a milestone in the two-year project to replace the Shelter Hall on the seafront at West Street, with piling complete.
This is a key part of strengthening the King’s Road, essentially itself a Victorian viaduct never meant to bear the weight of traffic we see today.
Our joint venture to deliver a thousand truly affordable homes is now agreed, including the first three priority sites across the city to be looked at for potential to come forward to the Planning Committee.
The major redevelopment of the Royal Sussex County Hospital presses on, a half-a-billion-pound project that will deliver a world-class healthcare environment for residents here and across our region.
Work goes on behind the scenes to secure progress on the new leisure centre at the King Alfred in Hove and we hope to be in a position to give an update in the new year.
Meanwhile, a key milestone in the long-term vision to build a new conference and concert venue, and extend Churchill Square to the seafront, is approaching.
As I’ve said before, we can’t stand still and we can’t neglect our heritage. We can’t let our assets decay or stand idle.
Now more than ever we need to keep moving forward and delivering for our city – and I’m determined to make sure we do.
Councillor Warren Morgan is the Labour leader of Brighton and Hove City Council.
Good news Warren. It would be great if the Terraces plan was a little more inclusive instead of a private members club, it would be great if the general public had access too as it’s a wonderful viewpoint.
It’s good to see you pressuring them to get it sorted in any case, it’s a blight on a very important part of the seafront.
This joint venture with Hyde will be audited by whom to make sure that The Council Taxpayers are not overbilled for Contracts like has happened with Mears?
We still haven’t heard anymore about that or the £3.2m that wasn’t banked on the Councils behalf and you allowed CEO Penny Thompson to walk off with a huge payoff when it was her duty to oversee this and many other shortcomings.Have a read of Her Linkedin page she makes out She did a good job and told you and others She was retiring.What a wonderful Pension Pot She is building up.We keep hearing of Government cuts but how many millions have been lost in the last 10 years through incompetence?
Warren doesn’t like to respond when asked difficult questions. Roll on 2019
he must be under pressure for his job if he is having to resort to this
“Work goes on behind the scenes to secure progress on the new leisure centre at the King Alfred in Hove and we hope to be in a position to give an update in the new year.”
Really? The last we heard (in August 2017) was that Crest Nicholson wanting an additional £10 million from council tax payers as the scheme was “no longer viable”. I sincerely hope we will not be expected to further contribute to this ill conceived scheme.
Next time round let’s put mechanisms in place, e.g. a substantial non-refundable deposit, to ensure Crest Nicholson, or whoever, cannot renege on the deal. Plus let’s just focus on the sports centre with additional funding, if necessary, from some luxury flats. The site is clearly not suited to huge tower blocks and the local infrastructure cannot cope with large numbers of new residents.
Turn it into a world class art gallery.
I can only blame years of mismanagement from the council for the Madeira Terraces falling into the state that they have become. Brighton looks so run down..a pier that fell into the sea, half of the seafront condoned off and falling down, graffitti covering many buildings, seafront lighting missing every other bulb, litter everywhere and shops boarded up & closed. When will the council start to look after our amazing city!!??