Money donated to save seafront

The Argus Monday, 18 November, 2002

AN AMENITY society has donated thousands of pounds to a campaign opposing a new seafront development.

Earlier this year, the Regency Square Area Society of Brighton gave £3,000 to the Save Our Seafront (SOS) campaign.

Now the society has donated a further £2,500 to the Brighton-based SOS from a fund originally set up to carry out improvements to Regency Square.

Society chairman Roger Hinton said the campaign was proving expensive to run despite hours of work put in by volunteers.

SOS is opposing plans by developer St Modwen for large leisure buildings on either side of the West Pier in Brighton.

The buildings are proposed as a way of making renovation of the historic pier viable.

St Modwen has changed the design of the development to meet local criticism but SOS still does not like the scheme.

Supporters have sent in hundreds of letters opposing the revisions following more than 3,000 objections to the original plans.

Another 800 have signed a petition.

Mr Hinton said: "The SOS campaign has proved that the people of Brighton and Hove don't support these plans."

He said St Modwen and the Brighton West Pier Trust claimed widespread support for the scheme but there was little evidence of this.