Brighton Taxpayers Will Take On i360 Loan Burden

The remaining debt owed by the beleaguered i360 tourist attraction has been written off so that administrators can sell it.

Brighton and Hove City Council leader councillor Bella Sankey said that this would be the “least worst” option and was “incredulous” at the position that the council was in, with taxpayers taking the burden.

At a cabinet meeting this evening (Thursday 23 January), Councillor Sankey said that a derelict i360 would become like the West Pier but without its “rugged rustiness” loved by many.

She said:

“If the i360 can operate again then it can help bring in business rates. And if we proceed with the recommended buyer that has come forward, the city council will get a small share of future revenues.

“While this may be the least-worst option, I understand why residents are so incredulous that this situation has come to pass – I’m incredulous and angry.”

She said that the amount of money going towards the “reckless venture” was sickening as she backed an inquiry into the decision which she said was made at the expense of residents.

Councillor Sankey said:

“It is heartbreaking, genuinely sickening, to look at the amount of money, the millions spent on this reckless venture.

“It’s not going into the pockets and the futures of the people of this city, the children, the families that are made homeless because we have so much pressure on the general fund.

“This money has been taken from the mouths and the pockets of the people of this city.”

No buyer could be found to buy the i360 before it went into administration last month  when it was clear the business was unable to service its debts.

More than 100 staff lost their jobs in the week before Christmas. The council was the largest of dozens of creditors including several catering companies and food suppliers.

The sum owed to the council is more than £51 million including interest .

The council brokered the loan from the Public Works Loan Board – and still owes £32 million or about £2.2 million a year over the next 16 years until 2041.

The Labour deputy leader of the council Jacob Taylor has been working with the administrators to deal with the “bad hand” that the council has been dealt.

Councillor Taylor said:

“It was with no pleasure that any of us saw the attraction shut and 109 people made redundant at the end of last year.

“We face a set of relatively unappetising options but it is really important that we make the decision and take the option that this best for the city and I believe what is recommended is the best option.

“The council could take it on as the main creditor. If that were the case, the council would have to plough in taxpayers’ money to get it running again.”

Councillor Taylor said that he was not willing to take further risks with taxpayers’ money when the council was struggling.

Leaving the i360 to rot was also not an option because it brought in more than 200,000 visitors a year which in turn helped to provide nearby businesses with customers.

Councillor Taylor also advised the cabinet to order an investigation into the decision-making process in 2014 saying that the council “cannot make a mistake of this magnitude again”.

Despite hopes of a revenue-sharing arrangement, the council’s financial plans do not factor in any payments from the potential future operator.

Councillor Taylor said that the situation was something that the council would have to accept to keep the seafront thriving.

Green councillor Chloë Goldsmith, who represents Regency ward, which includes the i360, asked what the council was doing to communicate with businesses that had lost passing trade as “footfall” had decreased since the it closed.

Councillor Taylor said that the council’s seafront team had good contacts with the area’s businesses and would connect them with the new buyer.

A fellow cabinet member, Birgit Miller, said that the i360 could not be left to decay on the seafront because it would become dangerous and would require even more money to be pumped into it.

She said:

“If one was writing a satire of insane council decisions, this would be used as the sort of a council completely losing the plot.”

“The problem is this is a massive structure on the seafront. If we do not write off this debt and have a really competent operator to make this work, we’ve seen what will happen.”

The report to cabinet said that the directors of Brighton i360 Limited would “not benefit from the transaction”.