Madeira Terraces’ remaining decorative masks are to be taken down and stored so they don’t fall onto volunteer clean-up crews.
A handful were put into storage in March after it was found they were loose and at risk of falling.
Now, all the remaining masks, which feature the Roman gods Venus and Neptune, are to be removed too.
Work on the first phase of 40 arches, from the Royal Crescent Steps to the Shelter Hall (or Concorde 2), is now due to start in spring next year.
Brighton and Hove City Council has submitted a planning application to itself for permission to remove the masks.
It says: “During the structural propping works and renumbering of the bays at Madeira Terrace that took place earlier this year, it was noted that there were a number of loose decorative masks to the bays, including a pair of masks to Bay 82 which had dropped down and were hanging precariously.
“Therefore it was agreed that these should be removed in the interests of health and safety, due to the risk of serious injury if they were to fall on somebody below.
“These were tagged and stored in the onsite storage cabins for future reinstatement.
“As there are plans for local volunteer groups to undertake regular cleaning beneath the arches, we are now looking to remove the remaining masks as a further health and safety measure as we cannot guarantee the strength of the fixings, and well as concerns over the masks being irreparably damaged.
“Should any of these masks fall there is a risk to anybody beneath at ground level as well as the potential damage to the decorative features.
“The structural engineers who have inspected the arches annually for a number of years have told us that the haven’t been able to assess the condition of the fixings during the past inspections as these were either obscured by the masks in place to each side or were missing completely.
“Previously guttering has been removed from various parts of the arches, with any rainwater collecting on the mid-level terrace then running directly on the top of the masks and fixings that are in place which is thought to be the reason why the previous fixings degraded.”
Do we still have the moulds to recast the masks ?
The worry is of course that we’ll never see them again.
I don’t want to be cynical, but all the seafront heritage lanterns were removed from the Kemp Town stretch of the upper seafront and were replaced with welded-on low energy replacements – which are hideous and they don’t light the road properly.
We were told the old regency-style lanterns were being restored, but there’s actually no sign of that ever happening now.
In politics, you call that ‘kicking an issue down the road’, and it’s usually about money or else to avoid conflict with the voters.
In the old days, the council would have sent out a man with a tool bag, to fix things. Nowadays the same council money is spent on issuing press releases from the propaganda department.
And instead of basic maintenance being carried out as a matter of course, we have a seafront in decay, and plastic signs everywhere telling us how to behave, or larger boards telling us how the council intends to waste money next.
The biggest waste of money in recent years has been the regeneration project at Black Rock, and still with no sign of it ever finishing, or indeed of any new tenants. All the bushes cut down ‘because they weren’t native species’, have just grown back.
If only that money had been spent on restoring the Madeira Terraces, as everyone wanted, we wouldn’t be in this situation now.
That money, £12m government grant to kick start Black Rock regeneration cant be spent on anything else. The Government wont pay for the Madeira Terraces restoration, we have to. In the olden days central government paid for for everything out of our taxes.
I should think the majority of residents want our seafront heritage restored as quickly as possible, this is why I didn’t vote Labour. However if at the next General Election Labour get in, perhaps our council could put in a plea for more money, although there is a danger that will fund more bin strikes.
Of course they do but there is no money to do everything you want ! So does the council fund Adult care or Heritage lanterns , they cant do both and government wont pay for either
I look forward to being able to purchase one or more of these masks on eBay.