Former PM takes a swipe at state of pier

Brendan Montague - The Argus Saturday, 4 December, 2004

THE prime minister who singled out the West Pier in Brighton as the perfect beneficiary for his new National Lottery funding has described the state of the landmark a "travesty".

John Major set up the Heritage Lottery Fund a decade ago while in charge of a Conservative government and named the blighted structure as a perfect beneficiary.

Now the party luminary has accused the Labour Government of "pilfering" the cash to spend on services which should be funded by taxes.

However, Hove MP Ivor Caplin criticised the claims and said: "This is complete and utter b*****ks."

The lottery fund promised £12.6 million in funding for the West Pier Trust but withdrew the cash after a storm ripped down the concert hall.

The former Tory leader said the rusting skeleton of the pier would now remind people of "yet another" breach of trust from the Government.

Speaking before a gala event at Hove Town Hall, he told The Argus: "I am pretty shocked that today the West Pier has still not been restored.

"When we established the lottery ten years ago I pointed to this project as something that was important locally but a national institution as well.

"To find that ten years later the pier has been further damaged by nature is a great disappointment.

"The trust was offered a large grant but then this was withdrawn and I ask: Why?

"Almost certainly this was because the Government had been relocating money from the lottery so there was less money to spend in the Heritage Lottery Fund."

Mr Major, who became prime minister in 1990, said: "An important part of Brighton and Hove prosperity is people visiting and one of the attractions was the West Pier. So not have they (the Labour Government) not renovated an important national monument, they've also allowed economic harm to Brighton and Hove and I would like to see how they justify doing such harm."

Following a spate of storms and fires, the pier trust and developers asked for the lottery grant to be increased to £19,643,000 but were refused.

The Heritage Lottery Fund then decided that it could not continue to support the project.

Mr Caplin said: "I do not know what John Major's agenda is but people will recall that he was the prime minister that oversaw massive home repossessions, soaring interest rates and Black Wednesday.

"We do not need any lessons from John Major about how we run the economy or the lottery."

David Lepper, Labour MP for Pavilion, dismissed the claims as "nonsense".

He said: "This is cheap politicising on John Major's part.

"The reasons the pier lost out were very straightforward - the legal action by the Noble Organisation, the natural disasters and the arson attacks."

A spokeswoman for the Heritage Lottery Fund also denied the claims.

She said: "Our decision not to fund the pier was based on expert advice which indicated that lack of certainty on costs and the substantial risks inherent in the project meant that putting millions into the pier would not be money well spent.

"Our board made the decision based on the facts of the case and, while there continues to be great pressure on our funds, the Heritage Lottery Fund's money has not been reallocated elsewhere by Government."