Brighton pier funding withdrawn

Brighton's crumbling West Pier is unlikely to ever be repaired after the National Lottery withdrew £14m of funding.

The West Pier Trust, which owns the structure, was bidding for £19m of funding after being offered an initial £14.2m from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) in 1998. However, following discussions yesterday, the HLF withdrew even its original offer from six years ago.

Liz Forgan chairman of the HLF said: "We have been long-time supporters of the campaign to save Brighton's West Pier and have done everything in our power to keep the faith over the years that a solution was possible.

"However there is no guarantee that costs won't continue to escalate and the trust has made it clear that they have no other funding options but the HLF.

"This means that the risks and costs involved are now just too big for us to bear," she added.

A spokeswoman for the Trust told CJ: "Our next step is to have discussions with various authorities and councils involved but we don't hold up much hope."

Last year the pier, which closed in 1975, suffered severe structural damage from storms and two fires.