Old piers and lidos, new tents and sculptures (From The Argus)

Old piers and lidos, new tents and sculptures

1:06am Thursday 9th February 2012 in Community By Roy Pennington, community correspondent

The Culture Committee (a.k.a. Culture, Recreation & Tourism Cabinet Member Meeting) this week covered an eclectic mish-mash items: it started with a display of a long-lost Turner water-colour, mentioned the possible compulsory purchase of Saltdean Lido, heralded eco-wig-wams as the new holiday destination and ended with a spectral sculpture. It was all good fun.

The rather small Turner watercolour of the Chain Pier was well-bigged-up by the Council press release two weeks ago and presided, via the overhead projection screen, over the whole meeting, yet it is only 15.2 by 22.9cms (approx. A5 size, like an early £5 note). It cost nearly a quarter of million pounds in an auction in New York. Most of it was paid for by Heritage Lottery Fund. It has been in private hands in the USA, unseen by the public for more than 100 years. It will go on show at the Royal Pavilion soon.

The possible compulsory purchase of Saltdean Lido was mentioned as part of on-going discussions about the state of (dis)-repair; it generated some swift clarifications by the officers that emphasised a CPO would be the last resort.

The pop-up tents idea to galvanise the ailing local tourist industry “by package up a whole range of sustainable assets and attractions designed to appeal to green-minded tourists” had upset a lot of residents when it was revealed by the Argus recently. Cllr Fitch had tracked it down to the Council’s own press release about eco-tourism agenda item as the source of the wind-up. He said the press release had made it a laughing stock of the Council and hoped that the future press releases would be more careful.

The final item on the agenda was the Ghost Train, the last piece of the jig-saw which is the New England Quarter. The tidying-up of the legal strings attached to the Public Art installation on the disused railway bridge concluded the meeting. Some concerns were raised that car-drivers would be distracted by the sight of a huge replica locomotive above them, with fancy coloured lights mimicking the steam and smoke of the old-time choo-choo trains. Only time will tell if the risk assessment conducted as part of the planning process was adequate in this case and no drivers will plough into anything…..