OK, I didn't get to walk on the Pier, but some news further below. Last weekend I had a lovely walk in delightful weather, and I think I had never taken photographs from above the White Rock Hotel before, so here you are, with Beachy Head in the distance!
Oh yes, and you can see Hastings Pier below this position too, teeming with people?
Of course it wasn't, indeed, don't expect to see Hastings Pier open before May, if then, and certainly don't be surprised if it is still closed for the Easter holidays! Much has been said in the media, locally, and by the owner about the ex-Hastings Pier Charity, Friends of Hastings Pier, and the response of Hastings people to the owner, Mr Gulzar, and his mini-me companion the not Lord, please don't believe a word they say! At the bottom of this blog I have reproduced a statement written by Jess Steele, local activist and founder and director of Jericho Road Solutions, who helped Friends of Hastings Pier with their bid for the Pier, and which may help you better understand the truth.
Oh yes, I had a look underneath, nowt happening there either!
Bottle Alley has improved in recent years, I love the lighting effect in the dark, however, still much antisocial behaviour going on here (not a surprise either, many people do not seem to care about others or rules these sad days!), I didn't want to share an image of dog faecal matter, but this was the fourth cyclist to pass me, and it is clearly marked at all entry points to the lower promenade, and Bottle Alley, "NO CYCLING" 😠
By
West Marina Gardens and the caravans that settle here during the year will again be moved along by Sunday for the 10.30 start, and the finish, of the
35th Hastings Half Marathon (
blog from last year, and their
website).
I did notice that the
Goat Ledge cafe is advertising for staff, and I've given details before about their opening times (
blog), and their continuing to prosper; you can find out contact details at their
website, or just walk along there and maybe enjoy refreshment!
Then I saw many kites being flown, what was that all about?!?
Aha! It was the annual
Fly Kites Not Drones event organised by
Hastings Against War (
website), part of an international campaign than began in Afghanistan.
And before I headed to the
Jolly Fisherman (older
blog) micropub in East Beach Street for lunch, I took a photograph of
Hastings RNLI Lifeboat Station (above).
STATEMENT
FROM JESS STEELE REGARDING HASTINGS PIER
February
2019
Since
last summer there has been a disturbing level of polarisation within
the town about the pier. I hope that this statement will help to
tackle that and remind us of the positivity that was the hallmark of
the campaign to save the pier. This statement comes from me as an
individual and I’d like to lay out my involvement as clearly as I
can.
I
was one of the local people who got together to try to save the pier
in 2006 when it was closed for safety reasons due to lack of
investment by the private owner Ravenclaw (based in Panama). We set
up Friends of Hastings Pier as a community group to keep the pier in
the public eye.
In
January 2008 it became clear no-one else was going to rescue the
pier so we set up Hastings Pier & White Rock Trust. HPWRT
was like the ‘midwife’ to try to deliver a different future for
the pier – we focused on funding, ownership, engineering,
commercial propositions, and very high levels of community
involvement.
Once
we were successful with HLF funding we established Hastings Pier
Charity (HPC) to take the project forward and changed the name of
HPWRT to White Rock Trust to focus on the rest of the neighbourhood.
As
the voluntary Treasurer, I played a leading role in overseeing the
first phase of HLF funding – including supporting the main ‘Round
2’ bid to HLF for £11.5M, helping to raise the match-funding,
working with the council to achieve the CPO, and seeing the
organisation through the conversion from a charity to a charitable
community benefit society so that it could raise community shares.
I
resigned from Hastings Pier Charity in January 2014 as
it seemed that everything was in place – the ownership, funds for
restoration, the board and a staff team. I became just an
ordinary shareholder, delighted that the pier was being restored.
I
got on with other stuff, including the transformation of Rock House
and helping to set up Heart of Hastings Community Land Trust to
achieve homes and workspaces for local people that will be
affordable in perpetuity.
I
was asked by the new chair of the HPC board to get involved again
briefly in 2017, in a paid role for the first and only time, mainly
helping with financial modelling (it was my spreadsheets that the
Administrators sent out to potential bidders). That was when it
became clear that the pier operation was not financially
sustainable. Faced with daunting distractions like a £1M impact
storm and an underperforming private catering contract, they had
lost sight of ‘Phase 2’ – the need for investment for a new
building and an active programme to drive footfall and dwell-time.
I
was not consulted about the board’s decision to put Hastings Pier
Charity into administration in November 2017 –
the first I heard about it was the Administrator’s letter to
shareholders.
I
was persuaded by others who had been involved in the original
Friends of Hastings Pier that we should call a meeting for those who
wanted to be active and constructive which we did in February 2018 –
60 people came, including Mr Gulzar. We then arranged a much bigger
meeting on 23rd April with 500 people. That meeting voted that we
should press forward trying to put together a bid that would satisfy
the Administrators.
All
I can say is that we tried very hard indeed, and we tried to do that
in a transparent way that involved as many people as possible. It
was extremely hard work from Feb to June, entirely voluntary and
generally very positive – focusing on the future while learning
from the past. We mobilised lots of people to be ‘active and
constructive’ (a constant theme throughout). We had all-welcome
‘tea and strategy’ sessions every Friday and lots of digital
input. The business plan was available online throughout the
‘bidding’ process.
I
have been told that there is confusion about what we mean by a
‘community asset’. There is no formal definition but for me a
community asset is a building or land that people care about, owned
by a not-for-profit organisation to retain the value for local
people, and enables local people to be involved in its development.
That was what we were trying to achieve. [An Asset of Community Value
is a different thing set up by the Localism Act (20111). These are
usually owned by a private or state owner but nominated by a
community group as being of community interest and therefore given
some protection at disposal].
Our
bid, of course, was not successful so it doesn’t make sense to
spend much time on it. But I am told that there is a
misinterpretation of what we were offering. Or rather that we
shouldn’t complain because we didn’t make a cash offer for the
purchase. Looking back it seems obvious but there was never a time
when Smith & Williamson or anyone else involved gave any idea
they were looking for cash. Even the estate agent didn’t push for
money – he just kept refusing when we tried to negotiate for time.
They stressed over and over that what they were looking for was a
sustainable future for the pier that would respect the fact that it
had been saved through community effort. The ‘deep pockets’
frequently mentioned referred to someone who could sustain the losses
for the first few years and invest both commercially and in the
maintenance of the structure.
So
we focused everything on those points – financing a transition
period, planning for a significant commercial investment of new
covered space, and raising enough funds to keep the pier properly
maintained and insured. Our business plan included detailed financial
modelling and showed that with the resources pledged and projected we
could achieve all of that. Business plans are notoriously unreliable,
full of assumptions that might not come true. But they’re better
than no plan at all.
I’m
happy to be held accountable for the quality of the bid, with all its
errors and its ultimate lack of success. I still think it was as good
as we could do. It would have been a leap of faith for the
decision-makers to choose FOHP. It was a different blind jump they
made in choosing Mr Gulzar.
Another
point where clarification has been requested is my views of the
administration process. The Insolvency Act 1980 gives Administrators
a very wide range of powers. As far as I know Smith & Williamson
acted solely and legitimately within those powers. But I found it a
bewildering process. There seemed to be no clear rules to it and
certainly no scope for flexibility or collaboration for the sake of
the pier. Nevertheless we kept going – business planning,
developing a partnership, crowdfunding, leafleting, keeping people
informed, and trying to keep up morale for the pier staff and
volunteers for whom this was a horrible time of uncertainty.
I
sincerely regret the high emotions on the night of the sale and I
apologise to Mr Gulzar if he found it upsetting. I’ll give some
explanation, though not as an excuse, just for information.
15th June
2018 was a very stressful day at the end of a very stressful 6
months. The previous day we had put in our ‘final offer’ (ie the
most refined version of the Friends Plan for Hastings Pier, with
financial information and the draft Heads of Terms for our
partnership with a commercial operator). But I woke up to rumours
that the pier had been sold for £35,000, later people said it was
£50,000. Maybe we had all been stupid, but suddenly ‘the penny
dropped’ as it were. They were looking for cash! Well, we could do
that kind of cash – I picked up my company chequebook, secure in
the knowledge that other people would help fund this, we could just
about cover it temporarily and we were about to hit our £500,000
target on Crowdfunder.
People
began to gather on the pier to find out what was going on. The place
was full of media crews swapping gossip they were getting from
Eastbourne. I think the word is ‘febrile’, and it was also
incredibly hot. We were there all day. At 12 noon I received an email
from Adam Stephens at Smith & Williamson stating that ‘no
decision has been made’. We waited until 7pm and then gave up. So
when I got a call at 9.30pm saying Mr Gulzar was on his way to claim
his pier I was not in the best of moods! I headed back down and we
invited other volunteers to join us.
Many
people have criticised my attempt to buy the pier back from Mr
Gulzar. They may well be right. It’s certainly a key regret in an
otherwise proud story. But I couldn’t think what else to do. It
felt like there was this one last thing we could try – maybe he
would say, “yes you can invest that money and we can work
together”. I was very tense but quite polite.
More
people have criticised the boos and shouts by the small crowd of
people and I agree (I think most people who were there agree) that
was a bad move. Pretty quickly, but not quickly enough, I encouraged
everyone to withdraw to the White Rock Hotel. I sent Mr Gulzar this
email that night:
Dear
Mr Gulzar
Emotions
ran high tonight so we decided it was best to give you space.
As
you know we are very concerned about the future of the pier and the
impact on the community of this private sale. However it will be
important to explore ways of working together for the benefit of
Hastings Pier.
I plan
to be on the pier this Sunday afternoon. Are you available to meet to
discuss your plans to engage with the local community?
Best
wishes
Jess
(on behalf of Friends of Hastings Pier)
I
have nothing at all against Mr Gulzar. He didn’t do anything wrong,
just took a perfectly reasonable opportunity. From the little I know
of him I think he loves the pier and is doing his best. He has
certainly taken on a challenging asset. Both within FOHP and on my
own behalf I have said over and over that the issue is not with Mr
Gulzar as owner. The only thing that matters is the long-term
protection of the pier.
My
problem has always been with the decision that a private owner would
be better than a community owner. The dream for Hastings Pier was
that it would be in community ownership (ie owned by people who cared
primarily about the pier rather than about profit) and that would be
a sustainable way forward for the long term – talking 20, 30, 50
years. After just two seasons from a late opening, I don’t think it
was given enough time to prove that.
I
stood down from FOHP officially in front of 100 people on
2nd December
2018. Prior to that I tried to encourage mediation. We took advantage
of a voluntary offer from a local resident with a strong background
in negotiations to approach Mr Gulzar with suggestions about a
memorandum of understanding that would serve and protect both
‘sides’. At first it seemed that might be possible but then Mr
Gulzar changed his mind and wouldn’t talk anymore. I do understand
that he has been very much in the spotlight. I don’t understand why
he didn’t anticipate that and take action to build bridges from the
start.
To
be clear I don’t think anybody should be abusing anyone else
involved on social media or anywhere else. For what it’s worth, I
would ask anyone that has any respect for me and for what we all did
together as a community in rescuing the pier from the brink of
destruction to the beauty that it is today, to give Mr Gulzar the
benefit of the doubt, to support the pier now and to take the long
term view. As citizens of Hastings we and the generations that come
after us will need to look out for that pier. As Brighton, Colwyn Bay
and too many other places can testify – once it’s gone, it’s
gone.
Hastings
Pier is no longer my responsibility in any sense and this will be my
last comment on it. As the owner, the main responsibility for the
pier now lies with Mr Gulzar, but it would be unfair to let him carry
all the weight. I will always support the pier, whoever owns it.
Personally I have no problem at all with the gold, the animals, even
the sheds and the slot machines. These are the ephemera of any
particular season – they are not the essence of the pier. It has
been with us for 150 years, loved by many people in the town over the
generations. I hope that we can get over these nasty divisions and
focus on looking after our town – the people as well as the pier.
Thanks
for reading, please share this statement to help clarify the
situation and let’s go back to being the town that saved a pier.
Jess
Steele OBE, 3rd February
2019
Thank you for that Jess, it helps explain much!
