DAVID CAMERON MEMBERS PARLIAMENT CONSERVATIVE PARTY EASTBOURNE PIER

Rt Hon DAVID CAMERON MP

A proposal to rescue Eastbourne's pier with help from the Heritage Lottery Fund

PRIME MINISTER - David Cameron and George Osborne visited Eastbourne in 2014, to see the carnage for themselves. They were so concerned at the hardship that this disaster might cause local traders that they immediately offered £2 million in aid. That did nothing for the pier itself, although judging by the Eastbourne Herald blog, many locals were left with the impression that it would. Who knows what the future might bring with a government that cares about coastal communities.

EASTBOURNE HERALD - Friday 31 July 2015

Eastbourne council still has high hopes for Eastbourne Pier despite the news that the owners of the seafront landmark are considering selling up.

Cuerden Leisure announced yesterday (Thursday) it was evaluating its options on the future of the pier after council planners turned down plans for a Victoria fairground with rides on newly installed decking.

The news came on the one year anniversary of the pier blaze, which destroyed the iconic Blue Room.

Cuerden Leisure had hoped the fairground project would help boost takings but said it was hugely disappointed the scheme had been rejected.

On Thursday council leader David Tutt spoke to the Herald about his hopes that something could soon be installed on the decking.

http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/video-hopes-for-eastbourne-pier-one-year-after-the-blaze-1-6880247

[Please note that although we include the URL for to be able to reference their story, that the Eastbourne Herald website is extremely slow and unresponsive due to top heavy advertising, soaking up serious energy on the internet, hence is not climate friendly - we do not recommend visiting this site unless absolutely necessary - surf responsibly]

JAN 2015 MINISTERIAL VISIT - Councillor David Elkin, Councillor David Tutt and Penny Mordaunt MP. Coastal Communities Minister Penny Mordaunt visited Eastbourne Pier today on Monday January 19 2015 to view progress on its restoration following the fire.

She was accompanied by Leader of Eastbourne Borough Council, Councillor David Tutt, and Leader of the Opposition, Councillor David Elkin, on a tour of the Victorian attraction which is undergoing extensive repairs after last summer’s blaze destroyed a third of the structure.

The removal of the pier’s fire-damaged steel dome is almost complete and the next stage will be to strengthen the steel substructure of the pier and install new timber decking beneath the arcade.

Meanwhile the pier owners are currently assessing which architectural practice should be awarded the prestigious and unusual task of designing a new building for the pier.

MEMORIES - Do you remember the sound of a crackling analogue radio made from brown bakelite and a television without colour? If you do you may well have ridden on the William Alchorn, or maybe taken a ride on one of the Bluebird speedboats from the rear of the pier, where that jetty is all but collapsed. These attractions no longer exist (Sept 15). Now imagine that you can take your kids on one of these rides, and that was after a visit to the amazing Maritime Museum on the pier. What a day out. You can't do any of these things yet, but if the Cleaner Oceans Club get their hands on the pier - it will come alive.

TRANSPORT - Improve the A27 by all means, but that is not all that is wrong with Eastbourne. Don't get us wrong, it is a good start, but what about the bottlenecks strangling tourism in Eastbourne? ESCC Highways appear to have got their sums wrong in widening the A27, when it should have been a dual carriageway. Then there is Polegate. The secret to improving trade anywhere in the world is to make it easy to get to where you want the goods to go. In the case of Eastbourne the goods are people as passengers. People who might want to visit interesting places. ESCC probably viewed Eastbourne as a sleepy coastal resort with an aging population that did not need a first class transport

CONTACTS

Write to the Prime Minister:

The Rt Hon David Cameron MP
Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London
SW1A 2AA

Contact the Conservative Party:

Conservative Campaign Headquarters
4 Matthew Parker Street
London
SW1H 9HQ

+44 (0) 20 7222 9000

GOOGLE MAPS - The above is a satellite view from one of the most famous search engine companies. The snapshot was taken in September 2015, but still shows the Blue Room intact.

LINKS

Heritage Lottery Fund

Historic England

Eastbourne Borough Council

B ig Lottery Fund Coastal Communities Fund

D emocracy East Sussex Councillor David Tutt

The Argus news and politics David Tutt victory_was_massive_vote_of_confidence

E astbourne Herald Coastal Communities minister Penny Mordaunt visits pier to check on progress after blaze

http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/local/minister-visits-eastbourne-pier-to-check-on-progress-after-blaze-1-6529990

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/politics/12941820.Victory_was____massive_vote_of_confidence___/

https://democracy.eastsussex.gov.uk/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=19

https://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/ccf

http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/

http://www.hlf.org.uk/

http://www.historicengland.org.uk/

southeast@HistoricEngland.org.uk