A wheel in the right place? (From The Argus)

A wheel in the right place?

7:20pm Saturday 3rd September 2011 in Your Argus

CHRIS COOKE makes the mistake of referring to the Brighton Wheel, soon to appear in Madeira Drive, as the Brighton O (Letters, August 30). It is not the Brighton O. The Brighton O was Paramount Attractions’ original 2009 proposal. It would have been an elegant purpose-designed spokeless structure, 60 metres tall, sited between the piers.

This was turned down following opposition from hotels and residents. It was replaced by a second-hand ferris wheel left over from the South African World Cup [pictured], which is 45 metres tall with illuminated spokes.

The spokeless version wouldn’t have compromised sea views in the same way or caused the same amount of light pollution. The sea view from my own window is likely to be ruined by this thing we are getting. Instead of being able to watch the movement of the waves, the sailing regattas or the natural colours of sea and sky, I’ll have to look at this monstrous mechanism, brilliantly lit with flashing lights.

The way this wheel has been hustled through by planners is lamentable. This time around, residents have been allowed almost no say in the matter. And so, in a conservation area where residents are not allowed to change their windows without permission, a discordant structure 12 storeys tall and covered in flashing lights gets waved through.

Will it be good for the city? Time will tell. The jobs created will mostly be low-paid ticketing ones for students and the idea it will regenerate the area is nonsense. It might have done, if sited further along, at Peter Pan’s or at Black Rock, an area desperately in need of such an attraction.

Mr Cooke’s comparison to the Palace Pier in the 1890s is absurd – at that time the pier was innovative and built to the highest specification.

The wheel we are getting is a fairground attraction. It has a five-year licence, with the possibility of renewal, so we could be lumbered with it for even longer.

Graham Chainey, Marine Parade, Brighton

HAVING just read letters from Chris Cooke (for the wheel) and Audrey Simpson (against it), I have sympathies with both of them.

Yes, it’s great that Brighton and Hove is a popular resort, but how would Mr Cooke like it right outside his house?

His example of the Palace Pier in the 1890s and the fact people then may have complained about it is rather silly and bears no comparison with the siting of the wheel. Why place it in a congested area, which already has plenty of attractions, with little parking? It will also peer directly into people’s living rooms and hotel rooms. Why not place it on the lower promenade where the old paddling pool used to be near the West Pier? There is plenty of room there, with no disruption to traffic while it is built and then maintained. There is a car park opposite and it will encourage people to use the whole stretch of the seafront – including that overlooked area called Hove.

M Jacobs, Nevill Avenue, Hove