Agenda item - Chair's Communications

47.1    The Chair provided the following communications:

“This meeting has been called due to the urgent need for a Cabinet decision on additional funding being committed to phase one of the Madeira Terraces project so that work can begin imminently if the decision is to approve the funding and to ensure that there are no further delays. Madeira Terraces are a stunning part of our unique heritage here in Brighton and Hove that we treasure and celebrate along with Black Rock, the King Alfred, and Hove Beach Park scheme. Our administration is accelerating with investing and supporting our seafront. For too long, the terraces have been left to deteriorate. Not only has this led to the terraces looking old and rundown, but they’ve also become a health and safety concern. The Madeira Terrace restoration project is borne out of our very energized community here in Brighton and Hove, passionate about bringing the terraces back into reuse. This is evidenced by the impressive crowdfunding initiative that is contributing almost half a million pounds to the project’s delivery. As such, engagement with the community has been central to the evolution of this project. One of our first acts as a new administration when we were elected last year was to give approval to officers to carry out a tender process to invite bids from contractors to carry out this specialist work on the first phase. This tender process commenced in December last year with an invitation to tender which set out in detail the works required, including full replacement of the upper deck, a newly fully accessible 24-hour lift to ensure accessibility for all of the terraces to the seafront, protecting and re-greening of the green wall which is a designated local wildlife site, and restoration and repainting of the arches with an application that will better withstand coastal conditions. The restoration of such a historic structure is a unique and challenging project that requires highly specialist work, equipment, and materials, and we appreciate that we are seeking to begin the works during a period of relatively high-cost inflation. The original budget for this project was £11.6 million. However, the leading tender response came in over budget. While we’ve been working hard to bring the cost of the project down and officers have identified cost savings, it’s been determined that additional funding will be required to deliver phase one of the project. Cabinet will therefore be asked today to agree the additional funding and proceed with the planned 28 arches and a new fully accessible lift. While this will require more borrowing by the Council, I believe that it is an essential investment for the city and continued regeneration of the Eastern Seafront. There is no doubt that the restoration of the terraces is a hugely complex project, but our administration will not dither and delay like the previous administration, and we’ve convened this special cabinet meeting today to ensure there are no unnecessary delays and to save an additional six-week wait until the next scheduled Cabinet meeting, which is in September. It is also important to be clear that this, in our view, is just the first phase. Our administration will not rest until all the arches have been restored. We have already made a further funding application to Heritage England, and we have tasked officers with thinking laterally around this challenge to give us the best possible chance of finding the funding we need to restore all the Madeira Terraces. To that end today, I’d also like to invite residents, businesses and investors to give us your ideas for the rest of the restoration. I would like to thanks officers for their work in getting the reports ready for us to consider today at short order and to Cabinet colleagues for making themselves available to discuss this important issue for our city we will now move on to today’s business and I will hand over to Councillor Taylor to introduce the report.