Restoration work on the Royal Pavilion Gardens is set to start within weeks after councillors backed a budget increase using donations and National Lottery money.
Last month, Brighton Pavilions and Museums said an extra £1.6 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Historic England and donations meant work would start in November subject the council giving it the go-ahead.
The Pavilion Gardens is within land leased and managed by the Royal Pavilion and Museums Trust from Brighton and Hove City Council.
Yesterday, the council’s cabinet gave its approval.
As a trust, the Pavilion estate is able to secure more external funding than would be available if it was operated by the council.
Planning approval was granted to restore the Regency planting and install a fence based on the original 19th-century design in 2024.
Historic England put the gardens on its heritage at risk register in 2017.
The council has allocated £750,000 towards restoration work and new public toilets including changing spaces facilities.
Cabinet member for the economy, culture, heritage and tourism councillor David McGregor said: “It enables improvements at a scale which would just not be possible with council resources alone.
“So it’s an improvement, an investment in the city’s future to protect one of Brighton and Hove’s most treasured civic spaces.
“It preserves heritage while meeting modern needs and keeps the city as safe as possible.”
In a statement released last month, Hedley Swain, chief executive of Brighton and Hove Museums, said: “This investment gives us the confidence to move forward with the full ambition of the scheme and ensure that this nationally significant garden is properly protected for future generations.
“Like many major capital projects, the costs of construction, materials and labour have increased significantly since the original funding was awarded in 2024.
“This additional investment recognises those pressures and means we can continue with the project as planned, delivering the quality and ambition that this extraordinary garden deserves.
“We have already made great progress, working with communities and partners to develop the project, and we are now looking forward to seeing the capital works get underway.”
At yesterday’s meeting, Green councillor Ollie Sykes asked about the long-running proposal to install a sculpture commemorating the involvement of Hindu, Muslim and Sikh soldiers during the First World War.
The Royal Pavilion served as a hospital for soldiers from the Indian subcontinent, and the council’s Heritage Task and Finish Group recommended the proposals.
Councillor McGregor confirmed the council’s continuing support for a sculpture commemorating the soldiers to help people understand the Royal Pavilion’s wartime history.
He confirmed discussions are ongoing regarding possibles sites and construction with a planning application held back until it can take into account the Royal Pavilion Gardens restoration.
More fundraising for the project is planned next year.
Councillor McGregor said: “I think there’s a really opportunity to make their great contribution
“I’m keen to see this get developed thoughtfully and working with the communities whose history it would commemorate.”
The artist has airbrushed out the usual motley crew that hang out there! 😊
Maybe Tommy Lee & Mick Mars had just popped round the corner to the cafe when the photo was taken?
Great that these restorations are happening. As the Pavillion Garden public toilets are now closed, where are the alternative public toilets particularly toilets for the disabled? Your notice on the closed toilets shows an arrow to nowhere. The public toilets on the Maderia Drive Colonnades are also shut as the ceiling has collapsed.
Changing places toilet under the Zip wire
Pavilion Gardens toilets are open
This is possibly the worst report I have read – from our usually-helpful local democracy reporter. It’s no good just repeating what those with a vested interest want you to say.
The real issue here is- behind all the ‘we are working with our partners’ gobbledegook – that they are fencing of a public space and reducing access to a city centre park.
They are then hiding behind the idea that the gardens and their planting are being restored to a former era, and that is simply not true.
There are old walls on the east side which are not even discussed here. Are they being removed?
The new perimeter fence was certainly never in the original Pavilion design, so let’s not kid ourselves.
The leader of the council has pledged that the new gates will not be closed at night – but is that still the case? These are important issues for all of us who use this space constantly.
The worst repeated trope here is that the Pavilion Gardens are ‘at risk’ – something which English heritage did say, but only on the basis that the gardens are a victim of their own popularity. The ‘risk’ was that most of the response to that issue was just to add another waste bin next to the older one, but of a different design. And all the signage is mismatched. So the ‘at risk’ is not actually as the Pavilion Trust want to paint it. They actually want to employ less staff, and to create revenue opportunities from what has always been a publicly owned space.
Can we please have some honest reporting here, please?
Keep up at the back.
There will be no gates