The deputy leader of the council has called on a senior Green to “personally apologise and consider his position” after the i360 owner filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators.
Labour councillor Jacob Taylor, the cabinet member for finance, said that his Green counterpart Ollie Sykes was one the leading figures behind the £36 million i360 loan brokered by Brighton and Hove City Council in 2014.
Councillor Taylor said: “Amazingly, the current Green party finance spokesperson was one of the leading proponents for the i360 deal and is on record promising it would yield £1 million extra in revenue for the council each year.
“That has been proved disastrously wrong. Councillor Sykes needs to apologise to the city and consider his position.
“This isn’t political knockabout – this is about basic accountability in public life. His decision has lumbered the people of Brighton and Hove with debts for years to come.”
Councillor Sykes said: “I have a lot of respect for Councillor Taylor so find his request disappointing.
“Two previous Labour group leaders were among those promoting the i360 years ago, indeed making the exact same claims that this would raise £1 million extra for the council.
“The i360 was a collective endeavour, developed over a decade and a half under Labour, Conservative, and minority Green administrations.
“All parties were rightly focused on how we could bring more visitors, more jobs and more investment to the city.
“Labour councillors were on board with the project until there was a risk Greens might get the credit.
“Then, after they were back in charge in 2015, they began singing its praises again. Labour leader Warren Morgan called it ‘an engineering feat in itself … and a great addition to our seafront’.
“Labour seem more focused on political point-scoring than the fact that 150 people’s jobs are now on the line.
“We have heard nothing from the administration on what they will be doing to support the i360 or those who lost their jobs through this process and ensure the best outcome for the city.
“This should be their absolute focus.”
Yes Labour were initially onboard with the i360 but that was when it was all to be funded by private finance. Once that never materialised they realised it was too risky to borrow against the local taxpayer, unfortunately the Greens and four Tories thought otherwise – despite being warned that the projected figures were wildly optomistic, (and surely if private enterprise don’t see money being made that is a huge red flag). As for Warren Morgan, (who I am no fan of his), his final speech before the final vote, opposing the whole idea actually seems quite prophetic now questioning the visitor numbers and any realistic return!
Obviously Mr Sykes likes to keep digging saying the administration should be supporting the i360 talk about throwing good money after bad.
If Labour had not championed the i360 back in 2006 it would never have got to planning, it would never have got throigh planning, it would never have been referred to the Labour Government’s Department of Transport Minister in 2007 to amend by laws.
There is a long history to the i360 and 100% Greens were involved in some decisions, including important ones around financing, but not accepting the fact that multiple decisions taken over the years impacted on the project getting off the ground is bonkers.
I have no idea why you are so defensive of Labour in all your posts – unless you are somehow aligned with them.
There’s clear evidence of cross party support and I’ve not seen Greens ever saying they weren’t involved in decision making over the years, only Labour keep doing this.
Greens would be outright and obviously lying if they claimed they didn’t make the grevious error they did here, so of course you haven’t heard anything of that ilk. That’s silly.
I am not defending Labour and fully accept that as I stated this they initially supported this. BUT and it is a big BUT when the final decision came to secure a huge loan, (because private finance was not forthcoming), Labour were totally opposed, (as were some Tories and 1 Green). Watch the meeting on Youtube Cllr Morgan’s speech was absolutely spot on, (potebtially a first), all that he predicted has come to pass. It is not just the Greens fault in the end but they and the CEO at the time have to take the majority of the blame. The warning signs were all there, lack of private finance, the community saying this would not work and yet they decided to ignore. Just look at what Cllr Davis and MP Sian Berry are saying now NO condemnation of the process just defending the attraction.
How come in 2017 a joint statement issued by the council with Warren Morgan as top signatory said:
“The British Airways i360 was developed over many years and was considered by local politicians from all parties along the way to becoming a towering success on our seafront.”
Labour were happy to take credit for the i360 when it opened in 2016, and in the years after (as the 2017 statement shows), but they have spent years distancing themselves as soon as financial issues came to light in recent years.
It wasn’t just initial support, Labour councillors were happy to toast the i360 at VIP launches and spoke positively taking credit after it opened. Flip flop isn’t in it!
PrestonParker, you really need to stop twisting the truth here.
What Warren Morgan said consistently is there for all to see in council minutes and indeed broadcast live – and still available to watch – on the YouTube video of the decisive 2014 meeting.
He said then that he and the Labour group had always supported the project but, regardless of any politics, he didn’t think it right that the council should use public funds to fully fund the project beyond the smaller stake agreed back in 2012.
He also said at that meeting he would continue to support the scheme, because it would be the job of all councillors to do so, but he emphasised his fear was that if the council funded the i360 we could end up with a huge debt for which the council would be entirely liable, and with another dead duck asset.
His words now seem quite prophetic.
Sorry Cllr Davis we all see through you, once it was up and running what would you expect the council to do? Tell everyone it’s a pile of s**t and dont bother? I agree with little Cllr Morgan says but as Billy pointed out it’s crystal clear that he and his Labour colleagues DID NOT feel it right to burden the local taxpayer with a potentially huge debt.
How about an apology from the finance officers who lobbied so hard and argued so compellingly for the loan and have since left the council, leaving those they advised to carry the can?
ALLof the Green councillors at the time should apologise for heaping £50m debt on to the local taxpayer. (They won’t, because they don’t have any decency or humility).Add to that the CEO of the Council at the time. KitKat needs to be investigated for malfeasance.
The Greens have left the Council with huge debts. They put £49.2 MILLION into a LOSS MAKING scheme that has spectacularly FAILED. The scheme wasn’t even environmentally friendly. Green Councillors Shanks, Sykes and West should RESIGN THEIR SEATS ON THE COUNCIL.
As Nathan said above. If the private sector saw something that spooked them (like totally exaggerated visitor numbers) why on earth did councilors think it OK to “have a punt” with £50 million (and counting).
Did the council’s own accounting team and lawyers point out the risks ? – were they ignored ?
In short where is the accountability ?
The accountability is where the Greens were soundly voted out of the council, and have destroyed any trust that they can make good financial decision ever again.
Perhaps what spooked Labour in 2014 was losing the local elections in 2011 and working out strategy and campaign points a year before the local elections in 2015 to win the council back. Perhaps nothing actually spooked them, it was political strategy and a gamble.
Perhaps they took a punt in 2014 safe in the knowledge that the project they had supported from the off and championed as far back as 2006, would go through with or without their votes in 2014 because there were enough numbers between Tories and Greens. Labour had already recognised in 2012 that the i360 could not be funded privately alone, and councillors are on record as accepting some public financing would be needed and they weren’t against it then. The ONLY time Labour actually opposed it was a year before the local elections in 2014, when they knew their votes wouldn’t stop the i360 going ahead.
Personally, I don’t think Labour were spooked by numbers or anything at all – it was politics and their hatred of the greens at the heart of their decision-making. They supported the i360 at the outset, they gave it planning permission, they even supported the idea of public funding being used in 2012 – and they changed their position on this as the local elections were drawing close.
The gamble’s paid off in some ways, but the comments from Labour politicians right now are ugly – it’s like they are enjoying it all and once again putting their hatred of the Greens and political point scoring above the interests of the city.
Jacob Taylor’s inferred a few times that it was always meant to be a privately financed initiative, forgetting that after the financial crash in 2008 it was recognised cross-party that prob would not be the case – Labour’s Gill Mitchell is quoted as saying “We’ve got an economy that’s flat-lining and banks that won’t lend so it’s right that the council should be bold.”
I’m sure some Labour activist will comment on this and say aha but it was the amount – but what Labour have been inferring in the last few days is that they were completely against private financing, which is not the case. My view remains that the date of Labour’s u-turn was getting close to the local elections the following year, and could well have been a factor in things.
As a former Councillor from 2015, I have to congratulate you on your staggering work of fiction. I’ve never read such utter BS.
There has rarely been such a clear cut disaster borne out of arrogance and hubris.
The Greens will never apologise to the city because they and their supporters will not even accept that they made such a huge mistake.
Not sure if you’re quoting a current councillor’s initials or swearing 🙂
That quote isn’t fiction. Perhaps Labour councillors weren’t telling the truth when they said the positive things they did about the i360, is that what you’re suggesting.
None of them want to be accountable – no surprise there
Might be better to boot them all out and have elections
Greens have already left Theo.
Labour were the Administration in 2006 and Planning Consent was granted on their watch inspite of knowing that the i360 project had inadequate finance to complete anything. Councillors were like a pack of fame junkies gushing about putting Brighton and Hove on the map because Marks Barfield did the London Eye.
Valerie yes planning consent was given under a Labour administration, (although planning is a politically neutral committee). But in 2006 the whole idea was to be privately financed, which is a no brainer. It is the Greens and four Tories that pushed through the huge loan guaranteed by the council.
Correct, Labour were the Administration in 2006 and Planning Consent was granted on their watch. It’s incorrect saying the i360 project had inadequate finance.
The initial plan had sufficient funding from a third party with the council contributing a smaller loan agreement. When the business plan finally emerged in full, the third party then pulled out, the council at the time then decided to obtain the huge loan to complete the project that Labour disagreed with.
“Two previous Labour group leaders were among those promoting the i360 years ago, indeed making the exact same claims that this would raise £1 million extra for the council.
‘Claims’ this word is exactly where it should be. They were making claims and had no real evidence to back those ‘claims’ up.
This is what happens when you shouldn’t have the authority empowered in you and are basically winging it. We really need to start vetting people more closely on why they should be involved in decision making at this level.
Brighton & latterly Hove councillors (since becoming a city) have all been knee deep in bullshit projects. ‘All’ a council has to do is stick to the bread and butter – public services. No grandeous projects just mantain stuff, like toilets, schools, parks, seafront ironworks etc. Mark my words next clusterfudge will be King Alfred redevelopment or maybe the non reopening of the Kingswest 😆
Problem has been being a hung council for many years has made decision-making and getting things done difficult if not impossible. We’re seeing movement, when you consider what is actually been done since the election compared to the years before, it’s night and day.
There’s a lot of hot air over this but the history is quite clear:
1) Everyone jumped at a solution to the West Pier problem, and it was backed by the West Pier Trust – who controlled the space – along with council officers and most elected councillors. English Heritage also said the i360 was a good idea (although I’m not sure why they thought that…)
2) But the initial idea was vague, with the details of the new attraction unclear. That’s often the case with a big project, but the planning process had to start first – in 2009, I think.
3) Planning is actually separate from any political voting, and subject to legal planning rules and land restrictions. Those in power obviously start the process to get planning hurdles removed.
4) The process was well under way before any alarm bells rang about finance. Ground works had already started.
5) The first money issue emerged i around 2010 or 2011, and resulted in the council agreeing (in 2012?) to match fund the private funding, but only to the tune of £13 million as a maximum. That small loan was a financial stake for the council which in theory would bring in an income of 1 million per year.
6) It was under Jason Kitcat’s numpty Green council that the more serious money issue emerged, and suddenly the figure needed was £32 or £36 millions from the council-backed loan. At that point, the council should have pulled the plug, but the Labour group were the only party saying that.
7) The video record of the 2014 council meeting – which made the decision to finance the whole amount, and which records the vote – is now shocking to watch, with the hindsight we now have. That video is still on Youtube.
8) Those in favour of the project, including many council administrators, seem to have talked themselves into a closed thought bubble from which any normal questioning process was excluded.
9) In the following months and years, the council fought hard to keep any of the projected visitor figures – or other details on which the loan was based – away from outside prying eyes. And that orchestrated cover up is pretty shameful, if not criminal.
10) When these projects go wrong, it’s always worth asking who got left with the mess to clean up and with paying off the debt, and who walked away with the money – having been paid handsomely – only to move on to another job.
Where is Nimrod Ping when you need him ?
Or Ken Bodfish 🤣