Fight to save Southport Pier 'will continue after funding blow'
A council leader has said she will not stop fighting for funding to fix a Victorian pier, despite being told a National Lottery Heritage grant would not be available for the project "at this time".Sefton Council leader Marion Atkinson told a council meeting on Thursday that the authority had made an expression of interest to the funding body for £10m to fix Southport pier, but had been "politely" told the organisation would not be inviting the council to make an application to the fund at the moment.The pier has been closed since December 2022 due to health and safety concerns.The National Lottery Heritage Fund has been approached for comment.
Earlier this year, the council secured listed buildings consent for the repairs to be made to the structure.Atkinson said despite the response from the National Lottery Heritage Fund the council would "apply again when the time is right" and added the council had done "all within our power to be ready to replace the pier when the money becomes available, we have a plan. We have commitment."She said the council would continue to apply for funding and speak to interested parties and "continue to raise the profile of the pier"."Let's be clear, the bottom line is the need for money, which the council does not have," she said.Leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition and former Southport MP John Pugh said the National Lottery response was a "hammer blow" to the council's ambitions to get funding for the repairs.But he added the council had found £20m of its own money to help pay for the new conference centre next to the pier, £32m to buy the Strand, £8m to loan to its own housing company and £54m over the last five years to bail out its failing Children's Services.He said: "Sefton can clearly fund the repair by appropriate use of revenue and capital resources. It just does not want to do so."The BBC understands Sefton Council submitted an expression of interest to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the maximum £10m which would require development and delivery over a number of years.The council could submit a revised expression of interest, perhaps for a smaller amount, later in the year.
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