Hastings Pier; Good News

The derelict Hastings Pier, which followers of this blog will remember I’ve been interested in for some time, will have a £14m restoration after the Hastings Pier Charity formally took ownership of the ruin this week.

The 140-year-old structure was almost completely destroyed by fire in October 2010. Renovation work is due to start very soon, hopefully this month. This will include refurbishing the remaining pavilion and building a new visitor centre, the project is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2015, which seems quite quick until you remember that the pier was closed in 2008, after being declared unsafe. It then belonged to a nominally Panamanian company, Ravenclaw, who did absolutely nothing with it, leaving the gates padlocked and the structure subject to the ravages of weather and, with no security in place, vulnerable to idle trespassers and vandalism. 

 Ravenclaw was issued with a compulsory purchase order last year, after it failed to carry out any repair work or even appear to explain why it had not. Hastings Borough Council formally took ownership of the pier this week, on Wednesday 15 August and passed ownership directly to the Hastings Pier Charity, which will oversee the work. Most of the £14m will come from the Heritage Lottery Fund, significant amounts have also been allocated to the project by the Coastal Communities Fund, Community Assets Fund, Hastings Borough Council and East Sussex County Council.

For more recent information see:-   http://hpcharity.co.uk/tag/hastings-pier/

For a complete history of Hastings Pier:-  http://www.hastingschronicle.net/hastingsPier.html