Looking Forward - from a great height

At last the West Pier Trust has stopped trying to salvage a lost past and has turned its attention to the future. The latest proposal to gain the recommendation of the Trust is not for a pier but an for 'observation mast', which has a ring-shaped obseravtion 'pod', weighing in at 60 tonnes.

Taller than Blackpool Tower, Portsmouth's new Spinnaker Tower and the London Eye, the i-360 will give a panoramic view over land and sea of 25 miles.

The i-360 is the brainchild of architects David Marks and Julia Barfield, the husband and wife team who designed the London Eye, and will be entirely privately financed.

It will take two years to design and build, cost between £15-20 million, cost around £8 a go, and expects to pull in about half a million punters each year. And! doesn't appear to need a large foreshore commercial development either side of the West Pier's current landward footprint to make it financially viable.

Could be a go-er!?

The Remains of the Chain Pier

A dozen of so people turned up this morning at around 7 am to ponder the remains of the Chain Pier, or to give the full title, the Royal Suspension Chain Pier.

The tide was so low that it was beyond the bottom edge of the great shingle bank that protects Madeira Drive from the ravages of the sea. And it is in the sand - rarely seen - that the remains of the Chain Pier's footings can be found.

The pier stood on oak pillars that were fixed into the seabed in brick footings.

Low Tide Oppo

Low tide in Brighton tomorrow (Sat) is at 7.02 am and is 0.9 metres which is low, low.

Intrepid local historian, Geoff Mead, points out in the Argus that it's a good opportunity to see the stumps of the old Chain Pier, Brighton's first and now long gone pier.

It will also be a good chance to see the remains of Magnus Volk's seashore railtrack at Rottingdean and along the Undercliff.

It won't be very warm though - barely above freezing and with a cold north-easterly wind. So wrap up.

More on Brighton's piers here

Official: Rules Not Broken, Only Twisted

It's official! The prime minister, Tony Blair, is satisfied that no rules on party funding have been broken through loans being extended instead of money given. And there's absolutely no link between these loans and government nominations for peerages. It's nothing more than sheer coincidence.

And by the way, what's it got to do with Jack Dromey, the Labour Party treasurer?

One Labour MP, Ian Davidson, has accused Blair of running a party within a party. Is this a return to Militant Tendency days, he asks!

Now there's a thought.

Change Will Come

Politicians we're told have very short time horizons, principally the next election. At any rate the electoral unknown is always factored in to the timing of decisions. But for a change from the norm, Elliot Morley, the Environment Minister, is looking ahead 100 years from now. This week he published revised guidance on SMPs (Shoreline Management Plans).

The SMP is a recognition that our coastline is always changing, and the view of many that it should stay exactly as it is, and that conservation means keeping it exactly as it is, is unsustainable.

There's good reason to be planning for the future, for it is calculated that there are £130 billion of assets (homes, businesses etc) at risk of coastal flooding and also at least £10 billion of assets at risk of coastal erosion.

SMP are now required to look ahead for three time periods: 0-20, 20-50 and 50-100 years, and to work within one of four options:

*Holding the existing line, by maintaining or changing the standard of protection
* Advancing the existing line, by building new defences on the seaward side of original defences
* Managed realignment, by allowing the shoreline to move backwards or forwards through controlled movement; and
* No active intervention, where there is no investment in coastal defences or operations

It's the last two options which will almost certainly cause most problems with coastal residents around Britain's shores.

We already have an SMP for Sussex which is the responsibility of the South Downs Coastal Group. Here's their website: click here

Announcement

The new Brighton: Illustrated website (thisbrighton.co.uk) is published today. But this is just a pre-launch. There's is still much to do. Nonetheless, do have a look around. New material is being added daily.

What's In a Name?

There are two name stories humming around the news wires at present, one with a French connection, and the other a Brighton one.

Here is Brighton our local public school, Brighton College, has made the news 'cos theyr're searching for a Peyton. They have a bequest from a late old boy that will fund a pupil at the school provided the same pupil bears the honoured name of Peyton (no hyphenated varieties allowed).

So far they're drawn a blank. Seemingly they've contacted 600 Peytons in the UK but found no volunteers. The search is now moving abroad.

If nothing else, the school is enjoying thousands of pounds, dollars and euros of free advertising.

Meanwhile in over in France a police officer of North African descent ends up in court because he wants to change his family name. In France you can only change your name if you can establish that you suffer discrimination because of it. That fact in itself is of interest to readers in Britain, a place where changing your name by deed poll is a well known past time.

But over there in France Mon. Bairi (the police officer) had chosen, not the French equivalent of Smith or Brown, but d'Artagnan, and Senator de Montesquiou Fezensac d'Artagnan, the august descendant of the other, famous d'Artagnan (of the Three Musketeers variety) objected to a prole wanting his ancestral name.

Yip, today's d'Artagnan is a French senator and president of the Company of Musketeers, the well-known boozing fraternity, and he went to court to try to knock down the upstart Bairi.

He lost.

So what's the moral of this story.

Well, it's usual to consult the Bard in the matter of names.

Juliet: "What's in a name? that which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet".

But the bard always had it both ways., and Iago in Othello says: "Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, / Is the immediate jewel of their souls. / Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; / 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands; / But he that filches from me my good name / Robs me of that which not enriches him /And makes me poor indeed."

Waste Plan is Signed and Sealed

The East Sussex and Brighton & Hove Waste Local Plan which sets out how the two councils will deal with their household waste collections has reached the end of the road and has been formally "adopted" by the respective councils.

It's legal.

There remains a 6 week period from today in which theoretically some sort of legal challenge could be mounted, but it would have to be on some sort of technicality, not on the substance of the plan, which details polices on recycling, waste incineration, landfill and where these processes will take place.

The councils' letter, sent out to anyone who has commented on the plan, states clearly: "the Councils have now effectively completed the Plan and there are no further consultation phases".

So, that's that, or is it?

England's Butterflies: 30% drop in 10 Years, says DEFRA

Today the Department for Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) reports that butterfly numbers across England have fallen by 30% in the last 10 years. The study was carried out by the charitable organisation, Butterfly Conservation, which reported last month on the serious decline in the moth population. The study tracked 40 butterfly species across more than 800 sites, almost half of which are "agri-environment" sites, that is, they are covered by Environmental Stewardship schemes.

The reports main conclusion is that well-informed land management can successfully conserve species, but that there is a lot of work to be done in getting those who manage the land up to speed. Those who manage land need to understand the specific habitat requirements of particular species.

Let's hope they can turn things round. 30% in 10 years is a serious decline.

Stanmer House Opens for Business

Well, not exactly. Its website says that its bookings diary opens today, but that restoration still goes on. Also, they don't yet have a licence (weddings, alcohol?) and so therefore all bookings have to be provisional!

But this is the revenue idea: weddings, civil partnerships, conferences, fashion shows, etc.

The tariff starts at £400 off peak for a civil ceremony room hire to £5,750 (peak) for exclusive use of the ground floor and lawns.

So, get in queue?