A CAGE on top of a seafront beacon has been rebuilt and reinstated ahead of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations this summer.
Initially proposed by Brighton and Hove City Councillors Robert Nemeth and Garry Peltzer Dunn, the rebuild of the cage on top of Hove Beacon was required to properly prepare it as an illuminated attraction to light a dark area of the seafront.
Inspiration for the plans came from the councillors' friend and former mayor Audrey Buttimer, who lit the Beacon with her husband Jim in July 1988 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Spanish Armada.
Work has already started to install new LED lighting to the beacon, as part of a joint project between the council’s arts development and street lighting teams and local lighting designer Eleni Shiarlis.
The beacon will illuminate the seafront in the evenings, making the area safer and more attractive for residents after dark.
Cllr Nemeth said: “Councillor Peltzer Dunn and I have been concerned for some years now about the neglect of the Hove Beacon and have been pushing for a major improvement in all sorts of ways throughout that period.
“Lighting the Beacon on such a prestigious occasion will be a huge honour. We are working now to arrange something appropriate for the night and will be releasing more details shortly.”
Cllr Martin Osbourne, who co-chairs the tourism, equalities, communities and culture committee, said: “It will be wonderful to see the Hove Beacon shine out over the seafront once more, as we join the national celebrations.
“It’s also fitting that the project will have a lasting legacy, creating an improved and safer seafront for our residents and visitors.”
Funding of £15,000 was approved by the council in the 2021/22 budget through a proposal from the Conservative group, with separate proposals from both Cllr Nemeth and Cllr Peltzer Dunn to incorporate the beacon’s lighting with the city’s Jubilee celebrations also approved.
Beacons were erected as part of a national network to warn of invasion from the Spanish Armada in 1588, with their lighting along the south coast a sign for communities to gather weapons and prepare their defences for an enemy attack.
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