Split over a shore thing

Pier restoration hinges on building seafront pavilions

Adam Trimingham - The Argus Friday, 1 March, 2002

THE West Pier in Brighton faces its biggest fight for survival as controversial plans for buildings at the shore end are put forward. Why are they needed and why do many people hate them so much?
ADAM TRIMINGHAM reports.

THIS is the most crucial year for the West Pier in Brighton since it was built in 1866.

New plans are being proposed for the seafront on either side of the pier to provide money for its maintenance if it is restored.

Provided they are passed by Brighton and Hove City councillors, the old lady of the sea could be completely restored in two years' time.

If they are not, the chances are she will be consigned to a watery grave and no one will want to clear up the mess.

Most people cheered when the National Lottery awarded the historic pier £14 million towards its restoration.

But little work has been carried out to the Grade I listed building since then and it is near collapse.

The lottery cash represents only half of what it will eventually cost to bring back the pier to its Twenties' glory. The rest will have to be found by private enterprise and that is a big commercial gamble.

Both the Brighton West Pier Trust and developers St Modwen say the two shoreline pavilions are essential.

English Heritage, the Heritage Lottery Fund and the council agreed buildings of the size proposed were needed.

Trust chief executive Dr Geoff Lockwood pointed out there had been three previous schemes to restore the pier and this was the first that had not included new buildings on the structure itself. Instead, they would be on the shore, either side it.

Some objectors say there should be no pavilions at all and the pier should stand alone as it always has.

But others, probably a majority, accept the need for what is called an enabling development but think what is being suggested is too big and brash.

The pavilions have been designed so they would not be higher than the rock shop on the pier or Al Fresco restaurant nearby.

But they would still be two enormous buildings, with large portions of them well above the level of King's Road.

The opposition has come together under the Save Our Seafront organisation.

It boasts the support of 12 amenity and conservation societies plus many people who live near the seafront.

As plans for the pavilions were being announced in a room at the top of the Hilton Brighton Metropole on Wednesday, the noise of more than 100 demonstrators on the seafront below could clearly be heard.

Spokesman Clive Buxton said the development of shops, bars and restaurants would be roughly equal in size to the old Hanningtons department store in North Street.

He said: "People are shocked at the idea of a giant commercial centre which will run parallel to King's Road for 400 feet and loom one-and-a-half storeys above the upper promenade.

"We all wish the West Pier to be restored but not at any price. This is a development too far"

Regency ward abour councillor John Warmington, who attended the presentation, said: "I do not think it is acceptable."

There was a need for-an enabling development but this scheme was too intrusive.

But former council leader Lord Bassam of Brighton said: "It is very exciting. It is a challenging development but a fully-restored pier is well worth having."

The leisure development would complement the seafront development initiative, which during the last decade had provided new shops, bars and restaurants on the Lower Promenade, between the West Pier and the Palace Pier.

Council leader Ken Bodfish said St Modwen had shown by making changes to the scheme it was sensitive to people's views.

But it was essential to have a prime example of good architecture on the site.

He said: "It must be bold and brave."

Permission to restore the pier has already been given. A planning application will be made this month for the pavilion development.

If it is approved, emergency work will start on the pier later this year, including an attempt to rescue the central concert hall, which is in danger of collapse.

After that, work will start next year on restoring the pier, which will be finished by the middle of 2004. The new pavilions, much easier constructions as they are on land rather than in water, would be ready.

But a vigorous fight is promised over the next few months, with big guns on both sides.

For the development is Lord Bassam. Against is Joan Plowright, widow of Sir Laurence Olivier, who lived for many years in Brighton.

The West Pier Trust, which with 1,500 members is one of the biggest conservation organisations in the city, backs the scheme.

But other conservationists are opposed to it.

There is one other snag for the trust. The Palace Pier has mounted a legal challenge to lottery cash for its neighbour, alleging unfair competition.

A decision is expected this month but any withdrawal of funds would be fatal.

What will happen if the pavilion plans are refused?

It could be back to the drawing board and there have been other suggestions for tucking the buildings more unobtrusively below the King's Road level.

But St Modwen says it has discussed these with architects and they are not viable.

Dr Lockwood, who has been working for the trust for the past seven years, said: "If these plans are rejected, my view is that the West Pier will never be restored."

He said it was inevitable some sort of large development would go on the site of the two pavilions and it could be that it would eventually be approved without the bonus of a restored pier.

There was also the likelihood no one would take responsibility for the pier, as happened in the Seventies when it became derelict.

That could mean it would becoming a rotting offshore hulk, with no one prepared to pay the cost of removing it, which could amount to £2 to £3 million.

In the end, the decision will be down to the 12 men and women on the council's planning committee. Their decision must be made strictly on planning grounds but it is anyone's guess which way they will go.

When prime minister John Major launched the National Lottery, he particularly mentioned the West Pier as the kind of project that could benefit.

It would be ironic if, after one of the lottery's largest grants, the restoration still fails.