COUNCILLORS have voted to take the Royal Pavilion outside of direct council control.

Brighton and Hove City Council policy, resources and growth committee has voted unanimously to set-up a trust to run the city’s royal pleasure palace.

A shadow board of members will be appointed and take over responsibility for the Royal Pavilions and Museums from April before the establishment of an arts and culture trust a year later.

The new trust will have a 25-year funding agreement reviewable every five years and will have the Pavilion and Museums buildings leased to it for the 25 years.

Within four years of its establishment, the trust will be considered for merger with the Brighton Dome and Festival company.

The council believes that the trust will be able to respond more quickly to market trends, assist with fundraising, have longer-term financial planning and greater freedom to find new income streams.

Council leader Warren Morgan said it was a “hugely important decision” about the city’s most famous asset which would ensure that the Pavilion would be preserved for generations to come.

Conservative councillor Andrew Wealls said he was incredibly supportive of the plan but urged for the council to “get on with it” after three years of planning the handover.

Green convenor Phelim MacCafferty while welcoming the move sought assurances that there were safeguards in place to prevent a “flogging off of the family silver” which had occurred elsewhere in the country.