COUNCIL ABSTAINS FROM ACTION OVER PIER
HUGH SULLIVAN
The condition of the sub-structure of Hastings Pier, and the threat to its long term future if a substantial maintenance programme is not undertaken, have been put in the spotlight in recent weeks by representatives of Facebook group Friends of Hastings Pier (FoHP).
In particular, FoHP have identified what they say is a badly corroded column on the west side corner together with other instances where loose bracing has broken through the outer concrete protection and is impinging on column cores.
But, so far, their attempts to exert pressure on pier owner Sheikh Abid Gulzar to resume a maintenance programme by appealing for intervention by MP Sally Ann Hart, by Hastings Borough Council and/or by the Foreshore Trust have gained little effective support.
The Council has the legal power to serve an urgent works notice where repairs are need to preserve a listed building (which the pier is), and their planning enforcement officer Charlie MacLeod was persuaded to inspect the site on 3 and 5 April. But in a letter of response to the group dated 6 April he told them that, without evidence “such as a report from a marine structural engineer”, there is currently insufficient evidence that the pier is structurally unsound or requires urgent works.
“Advice” to Gulzar
Mr MacLeod added that a request had been made to Mr Gulzar to provide a structural survey, and that “advice” was given to him that the pier “should not be opened to members of the public until a structural stability report is submitted”. However, he admitted that this “is advice and not a requirement”. The Council intended to close the case unless/until “a suitably qualified engineer” provided a structural report that advises urgent works are required.
And the pier was in fact opened daily over the course of the Easter school holidays without any apparent hindrance.
The FoHP have experienced no greater success in their approaches to Mrs Hart or to the Foreshore Trust.
No response
At a meeting with Mrs Hart on 24 February she agreed with FoHP’s representatives Rachel McCarthy and James Chang, who attended with a consultant engineer, to write to Mr Gulzar asking him to respond to their concerns about the state of the sub-structure of the pier and to request that he undertake urgent repairs. She has not told them of any response received.
She also undertook to raise the issue with the Council’s planning department and with the Foreshore Trust, and to request that they commission their own independent structural survey.
The Council’s response is documented above. Councillor John Cannan, chair of the Charity Committee which manages the Trust, responded: “I should point out that the pier is privately owned and not the responsibility of the Foreshore Trust.” He suggested that council officers would be writing to the owner asking for copies of pier maintenance records. “If these are not received, enforcement action will be considered.”
Considered but rejected, it would seem from Mr MacLeod’s response. The fact is that, shortly after Mr Gulzar bought the pier in 2018 at a knockdown price from administrators of the insolvent Hastings Pier Charity, he dismissed the duo of full-time engineers who had previously been employed to maintain the sub-structure. No maintenance team is known to have been engaged to replace them, nor has work of any substance has been apparent to casual observers since they departed, despite the obvious on-going corrosive effect of the tidal waters beneath.
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Does this council actually give a s@#t about anything…? And as for our invisible MP, she’s happy to support Southern Waters poo dumping so clearly doesn’t use the beach or pier.