Andy Durr, the Labour councillor who died late last year, will always be remembered in Brighton and Hove for one towering achievement.

It was his idea for Brighton Council to renovate the Lower Esplanade between the piers and encourage private enterprise to take over the seafront arches.

For an investment of £1 million, the council got many millions more back in clubs, restaurants and shops.

Walking along the front became a pleasure rather than a pain and visitors could enjoy a glass of wine in a bar without the threat of being glassed.

Andy often sat in the Fishing Museum, another of his bright ideas, and watched with pleasure people enjoying themselves. He had made Brighton appreciate its grand Victorian legacy instead of turning its back on the seafront.

But more than 20 years later, the seafront is showing signs of wear and tear, not just between the piers but for more than a mile eastwards between the Aquarium and the Marina.

The arches were built under King’s Road, a highway designed for a few horses and carts rather than 30,000 heavy vehicles each day.

Last summer, the road was closed near West Street as part of the road collapsed into an arch. A little before that the Riptide gym had to leave the West Street shelter hall in a hurry as it had become structurally unsafe.

Surveys have shown that the cost of renovating the arches and the terrace at Madeira Drive will be more than £100 million, money the authority does not possess.

Yet doing nothing is not an option because the arches will crumble further and the terrace will have to remain largely closed.

It is costing £100,000 a year already just for indoor scaffolding in the old shelter hall to keep it from collapsing.

Rebuilding the arches was tried in the 1970s below the Thistle Hotel. The new buildings did not blend well with the old ones and they were prohibitively expensive.

Some arches have been restored near the West Pier and they will reap the benefit once the i360 tower opens to the public next year. The council is gaining an income from them.

But there is no money coming in from Madeira Terrace, a unique and beautiful viewing platform which makes Brighton the best finishing place in Britain for events such as the Veteran Car Run each November.

What can be done? It might be possible to raise money from the public as it has been done in Hastings to help restore its fine old Victorian pier.

I think an imaginative solution would be to fill in the lower sections of the terrace and create scores of kiosks, small shops and cafés.

They could be made to look attractive and could possibly be combined with an arts trail between the Aquarium and Duke’s Mound.

There is also plenty of opportunity to create more family attractions on the shingle to complement Yellowave, the beach sports centre, crazy golf and a popular playground for children.

Volk’s Railway is to be spruced up following the welcome allocation of grant money and if Black Rock is redeveloped, this should provide a handsome income.

There is also considerable scope for improving cafés and amusements east of Palace Pier as they look tired and dated.

More beach huts in Kemp Town would be welcome following the huge surge of interest over recent years in the 450 in Hove, stretching from the Lagoon to the Brunswick estate.

Once work has been completed it should be possible to stage more events on Madeira Drive and the wide promenade at Hove.

No other seafront has anything like these attractions and the council should be making the most of them. They will attract thousands of visitors and provide plenty of interest for residents.

The creation of Brighton and Hove’s seafront took a great deal of investment and imagination. Much of it was committed when times were tough, notably between the two world wars.

It’s time for another boost to the part of Brighton that attracts more people than the Lanes or the Pavilion.

The mixture of daring new ventures such as the i360 and renovated structures like the terrace should prove to be an unbeatable combination.

Andy Durr, a board member of the West Pier Trust, was wholeheartedly behind this kind of approach. We often talked about it.

It worked triumphantly towards the end of the last century and it will work again now with the whole city backing this bid to make the most of its heritage.