WESTON-SUPER-MARE BIRNBECK has been sold to Manchester-based developers Urban Splash, who have a track record of taking on projects others would not entertain. It is thought they will be seeking to convert the structure for housing and leisure purposes.

HASTINGS pier remained closed throughout the summer while the owners Ravenclaw Investments contested the Council’s use of emergency powers in shutting it in the interests of public safety. Traders at the front end of the structure won a legal battle in July to keep that part open, but have had to pay for their own security and rubbish clearance. An offer to carry out load bearing tests came to naught after being blocked by the Health & Safety Executive. Repair costs are estimated to be in excess of £1 million. The closure was confirmed by the Magistrates Court on 12 September after Ravenclaw failed to give evidence. A public meeting is being arranged for 2 – 4 p.m. Saturday 11 November at the White Rock Theatre (Sussex Rooms), contact Erica Smith on 01424 201113 for details before attending.

Boat landings at SWANAGE pier had to be suspended after it was discovered that the wooden pier defences known as Dolphins were being weakened by being eaten away by insects known as “gribbles”. Repairs were estimated at between £24,500 and £68,000 and the outlook for the Grade II listed pier has suddenly become bleak.

In a bid to cut overheads the annual Folk OnThe Pier Festival at CROMER in May is moving inland to Northrepps Cottage, where it will be renamed the Poppyland Folk & Roots Festival. Organiser Scott Butler said he could no longer afford to hire the Pavilion theatre and his appeals for more sponsorship had fallen on deaf ears.

Vale of Glamorgan Council has carried out repairs and redecoration to the PENARTH pier pavilion while the search for a tenant continues.

A teenage angler landed an 11lb lobster that experts believe could be over 100 years old off DEAL pier at the end of June.

Record temperatures around Britain in late July saw the mercury reach 36°C at BRIGHTON on the 19th.

As reported in PIERS magazine, SKEGNESS pier celebrated its 125th birthday at the end of July. The pier hosted a mascot race, performances from a Slovakian clog team and the Janice Sutton dancers.

The same weekend SOUTHEND pier was attacked by vandals who smashed glass panels at the new entrance and damaged the decking. Repairs were expected to cost around £30,000.

CLEETHORPES pier has a new owner – local businessman Kash Pungi, who already owns the nearby Legends fun pub.

In a surprise move BLACKPOOL NORTH pier theatre was due to reopen for business on 1 August with three midweek shows, Viva Las Vegas! on Tuesdays, Halfway To Paradise – The Billy Fury Story on Wednesdays and The Rat Pack Party on Thursdays, all running until the end of October. David Chapman, Operations Director for Six Piers Group, said the company was in negotiation with other producers to bring other one-off entertainments to the theatre during the Illuminations, which were switched on on 1 September. Meanwhile the theatre has been used to film a pilot show with Alan Carr and Lionel Blair for Channel 4, End Of The Pier, and the brave duo prevented a man from jumping off the pier while they were there.

The BOGNOR Birdman Rally, held on 9 & 10 September, was jointly won by Tony Hughes with a distance of 84.4.metres and Ron Freeman who flew 83.8 metres. The NPS contributed £500 in sponsorship.

BLACKPOOL authorities argued the case for a supercasino before the Casino Advisory Panel on 8 September after it had emerged that they had slipped to third place in the shortlist behind Greenwich and Sheffield.

BRIGHTON Council planners have unanimously approved the construction of the i360 viewing tower next to the remains of the West pier. Local preservation and residents groups had lodged strong objections totalling 74 in all as opposed to 95 letters of support from as far away as Germany, Japan and the Netherlands The SE England Development Agency, English Heritage, the Regency Society and Tourism SE backed the scheme which will see the end section of the collapsed WEST pier retained and hopefully one day integrated into the development. Construction of the pod, measuring just four metres wide, is expected to start in early 2007. The observation deck will be four metres taller than the London Eye. It is expected to attract 500,000 visitors a year.

Elsewhere a proposed redevelopment scheme at SOUTHWOLD, converting the first floor art deco Pavilion into 12 two-bedroom holiday flats, has been opposed by the Theatres Trust and local community groups.

This autumn’s party conference season saw the Lib Dems in Brighton (16-21 September) and the Conservatives in Bournemouth (1-4 October), but Labour switched from Blackpool to Manchester (24-29 September).

MEDIAWATCH
Compiled by ANTHONY WILLS

The Holiday Inn hotel chain has featured CLEVEDON pier in its full-page newspaper advertisements for short breaks.

Grumpy Old Holidays, a variation on the successful BBC2 series Grumpy Old Men/Women, featured shots of BOURNEMOUTH pier in its edition of 8 August.

The following night, 9 August, SALTBURN pier featured unexpectedly in How To Improve Your Memory on BBC-1, as one of the contestants based in Redcar helped memorize his wife’s shopping list by walking on it!

The September/October issue of lifestyle magazine Coast had a two page spread listing their ten best pleasure piers. Top of the list was LLANDUDNO, followed (in descending order) by WESTON-SUPER-MARE GRAND, RYDE (IOW), BLACKPOOL NORTH, SOUTHEND, WORTHING, SWANAGE, SALTBURN, SOUTHPORT and BRIGHTON (PALACE).

Private Eye issue dated 15 September contained an update on the planning saga at the Royal Pier hotel in CLEVEDON. In June 2005 North Somerset Council had issued a repairs notice requiring the building to be made safe. Now a new company named Michael Wight Homes has submitted a fresh proposal seeking to erect 27 flats on the site which is being fiercely resisted by local conservation groups.

Anthony Wills