More details of which parts of a major seafront regeneration scheme will be scrapped have been revealed in council papers.
Next week, councillors are being asked to reduce spending on the Kingsway to the Sea park project after inflation saw the cost of the project increase by almost £4 million – more than Brighton and Hove City Council can afford.
A report to the council’s Strategy, Finance and City Regeneration Committee on Thursday lists 18 facilities which formed part of the £13 million project which are proposed to be chopped.
Until councillors agree, Kingsway to the Sea is “on hold”.
They are:
- Regeneration of event space next to the King Alfred
- Regeneration of the sunken garden next to Rockwater
- Sand sports areas – unless the potential operator is willing to build at their own cost, which will mean a loss of future income to the council.
Children’s play area slide and scramble - New art
- Hove Lagoon stairs – but a proposed new ramp remains part of the project.
- One “Changing Places” facility either at the new Outdoor Sports Hub or Hove Lagoon. The report states there is a facility at Rockwater.
- Public lockers at the outdoor sports hub – saving on maintenance and supervision.
- The Western Esplanade accessible toilet will not be demolished but will close when new toilets open.
- More expensive plants will be removed from the planting plan.
- Some secondary paths will be removed, and those remaining will have a darker, “less attractive” surface.
- All park “amenity lighting” leaving pathways unlit.
- Sports lighting – leaving the sports areas unable to operate during daylight hours.
- Park furniture – described as limiting opportunities for relaxation.
- North and south pathways would not be resurfaced.
- Meadow areas and laws would be seeded rather than turf installed, which will take longer to establish.
- Irrigation points would be reduced, which potentially increases maintenance costs.
- Terrace flooring for the Outdoor Sports Hub would be the new tenant’s responsibility which risks putting off smaller operators.
- The project has already seen the outdoor sports hub shrink to save money, as well as reusing sports court sub-bases and reducing the site area in the west of Hove Lagoon.
The bulk of the project’s budget came from a £9.5 million grant from the government’s levelling up fund, with a further £1.191 million from developer contributions and £300,000 from the council’s toilet budget.
Councillors agreed to borrow a further £2 million to complete the project.
Since then, a further £700,000 was contributed from the council’s Carbon Neutral Fund and £70,000 from the levelling up fund, taking the current budget to £13,761,000.
Without the omissions, Kingsway to the Sea would cost more than £16 million after contractor tender prices came in over budget.
The report going before councillors, said: “Construction costs nationally have increased significantly since the inception of the project.
“The council has seen increased sub-contractor costs on all construction projects due to the lack of availability of goods and labour.
“Allowances for inflation were factored into early cost plans based on industry market rates. However, the scale of construction inflation experienced now is unprecedented and beyond the early budget expectations.”
The Strategy, Finance and City Regeneration Committee is due to meet at Hove Town Hall from 4pm on Thursday 22 June. The meeting is scheduled for webcast on the council website.
Shocking to see so much being dropped – another case of Labour praising something then undermining it? I’m particularly disturbed to see how much this will impact those of us with disabilities trying to access this space especially the Changing Places toilet. Rockwater are not open all of the time and incredibly unwelcoming when I’ve tried to use their facilities.
Get your councillor to make a comment on your behalf at the meeting
Only right to reduce this very bloated scheme if it is costing the taxpayer too much. Lets look at Valley Gardens Phase 3 which originally was only costing 1 million from local funds, (mainly grant funded), but this had already risen to 6 million plus and is getting dearer.
Just have a word with the new Green leader, councillor Davis. I’m sure he’ll be able to supply the data as to why we must push forward with VG3. If not- he can make it up! It’s all part of the Greens grand scheme too completely screw up traffic flows in Brighton
Surely they should put a few simplified ‘complete redesign’ options back to a public survey to help decide what are the key elements people would like?
It would be interesting to know the breakdown by part by cost… Eg sports facilities or skate park. People could make informed choices on what to keep / remove and how to balance the project. Much like general personal finance decisions.
Taking out toilets and lighting seems daft. Surely there is a way to simplify?
So Labour condemn the Greens for making cuts then get into power and make more cuts. Labour knew the cause of budget cuts were central government but still disengenously blamed the Greens. Now they are in power they are forced to face reality. Hypocrites.
John Donn
Labour of course will condemn the Greens for making cuts, where they weren’t needed.
Labour have made the sensible decision to make cuts to this vanity project which isn’t vital.
Central Government budget shortfalls have been well known about for a least a decade so managing the budget is all important. Councils allocate budgets to where they want to spend it, not central government. Mis management of our local budget is down to the council, too many vanity projects running all at the same time requiring additional funding is the problem and that is a local council problem.
The skate park isn’t necessary, there is one in the lagoon. It’s just going to be noisy for residents. Just plant some nice trees!
Take the utterly stupid cycle lane extension out of the design. The bus company have advised this will seriously affect timetables. The existing one up to the King Alfred has minimal usage. Might as well remove that as well as it’s of little use and dangerous . Bhcc needs to ge real and stop wasting taxpayer money
Just pull the plug on it and other schemes forced through by the lying Greens. They have just wasted so much taxpayer money on their vanity projects
The wooden fence around the area must have cost a fortune, a total waste of money.