Pier tours halted amid safety fears

Adam Trimingham - The Argus Wednesday, 21 November, 2001

TOURS of the only Grade I listed pier in the UK have been cancelled because they are too dangerous.

More than 25,000 people have walked around the derelict West Pier in Brighton in the past five years.

Plans to restore the 135-year-old pier have been proposed ever since it was earmarked for National Lottery money four years ago.

But the cash has been frozen following a legal challenge by the Noble Organisation which owns the nearby Palace Pier. Dr Geoff Lockwood, chief executive of the Brighton West Pier Trust, said: "The requirement to cease access to the pier is a dismaying reflection of the delay in action on the plans for the restoration."

Work carried out by the trust on strengthening the pier up to 1999 was intended to be followed by the main restoration within 18 months.

Dr Lockwood said: "We have been telling the relevant authorities that the design life of those temporary securing works has been ebbing away while they shuffle paperwork around their desks."

He thought the legal challenge wouldn't succeed but had led to the pier being closed again.

Dr Lockwood said: "Unfortunately there is nothing we can do to prevent further damage to the pier this winter."

In a defiantly optimistic message to the public, he said that by spring the legal challenge could have been dismissed and plans for restoration endorsed by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Work could then start on a £2 million programme of emergency preservation measures designed to protect key elements of the structure, such as the concert hall, in advance of the main scheme.

Dr Lockwood said he hoped planning permission would then be given for development on the seafront intended to make the restored pier viable.

As reported in The Argus last week, plans are being changed by developers St Modwen, the trust's private sector partners, following consultation with local residents.

Dr Lockwood said: "The revised plans should meet all of the criticisms made since July, except those of people opposed in principle to the enabling development next to the pier."

Dr Lockwood said he hoped this news would mitigate the public's concern and frustration about the closure of the pier to public tours.

Clive Buxton, secretary of Save Our Seafront, said he doubted whether changes to the design of the seafront development would address the group's concerns.

Although St Modwen had offered to present its proposals at a meeting, Mr Buxton said he would like this to be before detailed planning proposals were submitted.