The Royal Albion Hotel’s owner still owes more than £1 million to Brighton and Hove City Council after fire destroyed much of the hotel over two years ago.
Britannia Hotels has paid just £500,000 towards the seven-figure cost of demolishing the grade II listed “Lion Mansion Hotel” section of the seafront hotel since the blaze in July 2023.
The council issued an invoice for £988,000 in March and has recently received a promise of a further £538,000 although payment has yet to be received.
The Labour deputy leader of the council Jacob Taylor said: “Following persistent contact by the council, Britannia recently agreed to make a further payment of £538,000 which we hope to receive soon.
“That will leave an outstanding amount of £450,000 which we have already billed Britannia for and are determined to recover on behalf of local taxpayers.”
Britannia Hotels was recently refused planning permission for the demolition because the company had not submitted plans to replace the building.
The council gave a second reason for refusal – the loss of a hotel in Brighton and Hove’s “hotel core zone”.
The council’s heritage team accepted that the Lion Mansion Hotel portion of the building had been demolished for safety reasons.
Part of the western end of the premises had to be demolished so that firefighters could reach the blaze which destroyed the five-storey building right down to the basement.
In the aftermath, the council stepped in to ensure that the A259 seafront road could reopen safely and as soon as possible, with businesses such as the Palace Pier reporting a significant dent in their revenues.
The road was closed again in February when the council was warned that the scaffolding and part of the remaining structure was at risk of collapse.
Even though architectural features were saved during the demolition process, the heritage team was concerned that these items were not mentioned in the application.
Only one of the three lions on the building was mentioned. One was over the north entrance and two were over the south west portico.
There was also concern about the whereabouts of two plaques, particularly one commemorating a visit from William Gladstone who was Prime Minister four times during the reign of Queen Victoria.
Councillor Taylor said: “In terms of any important heritage items removed during the fire, these are the responsibility of Britannia Hotels as the owner of the property.
“We would hope any such items would be being stored appropriately.”
Surely they charge double the government interest rate for what is in theory an unauthorised loan. They do on council tax and parking tickets.
If they won’t pay take the building.
Just Compulsory Purchase Order the site for a £1, and sue Britannia Hotels for the rest.
They took decades to sort out the Old Fire Station (how ironic!) in Manchester City Centre, so I can’t understand why BHCC are being so patient. If they can’t speak to their (Labour) colleagues at Manchester City Council then what is the point of Labour?
If you or I owed Council Tax, we would be in debtor’s court and off to Prison within days or weeks, except they are currently full!
Doesn’t quite work like that; you can’t purchase it for a nominal fee, it’d have to be for pay market-value, and then the council would be liable for the significant costs to repair it. It also doesn’t need to sue the hotel; it already has statutory powers to recover the cost.
There’s a financial incentive for BHCC to be patient; the debt accrues interest, so the longer the hotel takes to settle, the more expensive the debt becomes.
And finally, one doesn’t go to prison for owing council tax.
Weak councils and their planning committees fail to use CPOs and then moan when the developer gets away with land banking with increasing land values or worse taxpayer bailouts for “regeneration”.
Surely the loss of hundreds of (albeit dire) hotel rooms, then the loss of those “lost” visitor spend and taxes, as well as the poor impression left to those who visit and live/work locally outweighs any interest being earnt, which no doubt will be eaten away by inflation costs?
You *can* go to prison for council tax evasion under the Local Government Finance Act 1992, under “wilful refusal or culpable neglect”. English law at its finest as the devolved Governments in Scotland, Northern Ireland, as well as Wales banned the use of Committal Orders.
Oh, and one never starts a sentence with “And”, if one wishes to be pedantic.
It’s a common semantic myth that “and” can’t begin a sentence, Charles. There’s no grammatical basis for it, if one wishes to be pedantic about pedantry!
Back to the topic, the council absolutely can use CPOs, but they’re costly, lengthy, and require a clear public-benefit case, not just frustration at an eyesore. Although, having said that, I certainly agree there are likely plenty of places in Brighton currently that would pass that test, and a CPO should be used.
You are correct about evasion; however, there is an important distinction between owing tax and actively evading tax. In this case, until a court finds deliberate concealment or dishonesty, it’s not “evasion.” What’s likely the case here is corporate sluggishness and slow compliance.
Why not Lost the hotel let’s have a really place for bus and taxi can park and allow a go up or down north street in Brighton then as we will have to walk to Churchill shopping centre area make it a bus and taxi free town and no bus to the railway station in Brighton and start the bus from outside Waitrose on western road have town centre free Brighton town centre
Dose Brighton need a other hotel and a other fire again like two years ago now no
From what I’ve read about tourist figures in Brighton, yes, and more!
In all fairness, haven’t really lost a “quality” hotel. It had a certain reputation prior to the fire
I’d like to know much has been spent on work changing the roundabout.
CB
I don’t see what all the fuss is about, it’s a very ugly building. Bulldoze the entire thing and start again with something that isn’t built using substandard construction, is safe in a fire, isn’t riddled with cockroachs, and actually looks nice.