The Heritage Lottery Fund has turned down a bid by Brighton and Hove City Council for money towards the cost of the restoration of the Madeira Terraces on the seafront.
A previous bid for £4.2 million was turned down in the summer but another fundraising raffle is being organised by local campaigner Jax Atkins while the council considers a third bid for lottery cash.
The council said: “Our second bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to support the Madeira Terrace restoration has been unsuccessful.
“The HLF said there was nothing wrong with our bid but they simply don’t have enough funding for all the projects that applied.”
Council leader Daniel Yates, leader of the council said: “While this is disappointing, we remain positive about future funding for the Madeira Terrace.”
Councillor Yates said: “Last year’s crowdfunding campaign expressed the public’s desire to restore the Madeira Terrace to their former glory and we will continue to work hard to achieve this.
“Even without this funding, we are still going to restore the crowdfunded three arches and explore all avenues of funding to secure the future of the historic terraces.”
The council said that other local heritage projects had received a substantial share of lottery money over the years including
• £4.99 million for the Royal Pavilion Estate
• £4.7 million for the Saltdean Lido
• £3.7 million for the Stanmer Park restoration project
• £1.65 million for Volk’s Railway
It added: “We are continuing to work on the first three crowdfunded arches – at the western end of the terrace. We’re working towards an on-site start date of spring 2019.
“At the start of January 2019, we will be opening an office and community hub in a shipping container in Madeira Drive.
“This space will help raise awareness of the restoration project and offer a base to raise funds during events.
“We will continue to seek heritage funding and other types of funding. We are also considering submitting another bid for HLF funding in March 2019.
“The conservation deficit for restoring 60 arches is estimated at £4.8 million. A conservation deficit occurs when the existing value of a heritage asset plus the cost of bringing it back into use is greater than the value of the asset after development has been completed.
“The HLF is the largest funder of heritage assets in the UK and so it is important we focus our efforts on gaining their support to protect and restore the terrace at the earliest opportunity.
“Their support would provide a strong basis on which to secure the structure and to drive restoration more rapidly.
“Two raffles, organised by local campaigner Jax Atkins, have raised over £26,000. Jax is now collecting prizes for another raffle in 2019.
Join us at Madeira Terrace & Black Rock Past Present & Future https://www.facebook.com/groups/1477951252527679/and
Save Madeira Terraces Raffle Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/123426644980311/
both on Facebook or e mail chemicaljax@ntlworld.com
Next fund raising event is Bric a brac Market on the Seafront get in touch if you have any to donate chemicaljax@ntlworld.com or want to know more or can organise a fund raise event near you