Cabinet concern over £1.1m West Parade scheme

Members at this afternoon's meeting were supportive of the 1.1m scheme. But they were concerned about escalating costs and the risk of the authority extending itself then finding it could not secure external funding.

Director of services Tony Leonard had warned in a report to members that there was no capital budget for the scheme and that finding external funding could prove difficult.

Seafront working group member Cllr Keith Standring said the scheme matched Rother's corporate and strategic objectives.

But he said the working group was concerned to see funding secured for the whole project from the outset.

He also warned that costings given were estimates and not the result of competitive tendering.

Though the report spoke of seeking EU Interreg funding of 250,000 he warned that the real figure might need to be as high as 350,000.

"Equally, we need to bear in mind that Interreg is one of the big funding projects of the EU and our officers will be required to jump through several hundred hoops to get the funding required.

"It will mean that this decision is not going to be reached quickly. It wouldn't surprise me if it took 18 months to get any sort of decision at all on funding.

"I would like to suggest that this matter be referred back to the working group only at the time when funding is known because it was made quite clear at the last meeting that there needs to be absolute clarity that there is going to be funding for this work."

Cllr Robin Patten successfully moved that recommendation to council to take 600,000 from earmarked reserves should include the wording "subject to grant coming from Interreg and other funding sources at an appropriate level...."

He told colleagues: "I don't think it is appropriate for this council to take on the entire costs..."

Referring the escalating costs, he said: "I think there is a top level where we are as a council prepared to say 'Sorry, that's too much and we won't go along with it."

Leader of the council Cllr Carl Maynard said: "We need to be clear within Bexhill that if the money is not there then there needs to be a rationalisation of the scheme."

Cllr Standring said original proposals stemming from consultant Tim Gale's study, looked at three seafront areas '“ West Parade, De La Warr Parade and the Colonnade.

That was about as far as the working group thought it possible to go. To break seafront refurbishment down into smaller sections would mean that it was not a project any more.

"We want to do a good job and to do a good job we need the funding."