There has been much comment about the council’s failed bid to the government’s Levelling Up Fund to regenerate the seafront area.
Along with everyone who loves and values the Bandstand and Redoubt, I am sorely disappointed Eastbourne’s bid was unsuccessful. The £26m would have rescued these iconic heritage assets from years of underinvestment by our Liberal Democrat council with its questionable record of financial management.
What is less clear is why the bid hit the deck. So, this week, I thrashed out aspects of the process, formulated a plan with the Levelling Up Minister and officials and pieced together background information with advice from a senior Eastbourne Borough Council officer.
Unlike other councils it seems, our council always knew we could not apply for a regular levelling up round 2 bid when we’d already been successful in round 1 and were awarded £20 million very recently. These funds are still being spent.
The council then applied for the very much rarer ‘moonshot’ of up to £50m culture & heritage bid. At the time of application, there were to be only two awarded in the country. And as I said at the time, it was going to be a tough one to land.
The bid, I can now share, didn’t make it past the gateway. To try and better understand the issues, I have negotiated an assessment of our bid to understand its strengths and weaknesses so we can regroup and be in a far stronger position for new funding opportunities. Outside funding is now almost certainly the only way to save these sites, the council’s finances are now too weak and their debt interest repayments are already at over £2 million a year.
I welcome the scrutiny that community groups like Friends of Eastbourne Seafront are undertaking to hold the council’s feet to the fire over their inaction. They need to be more involved in the future. For my part, I will additionally work with the council to find other funds to help restore these important assets for generations yet to come.
