A Very Real Problem: Lack of Sports Facilities in Brighton & Hove

[Withdean and I]

I see that B&H council are preparing to throw £36 million at the i360 (the tall pole with a viewing platform).

No private funding could be found for this as it doesn't stack up financially. All the estimates have been based on it being 100% full all the time which of course will not happen.

Would this public money surely not be better spent on a decent leisure centre with proper ice rink etc?

The King Alfred centre has been a disgrace for years and a city of this size needs something decent for its citizens to go to.

Look at Guildfords leisure centre http://www.guildfordspectrum.co.uk/index.php

Something along these lines would be better, or would it?

Thoughts?

 

[trueblue]

i360 or new leisure centre with ice rink?

Tend to agree but I suppose the council argument will be that the i360 will bring money into the city through tourism. Whereas a leisure centre would just be useful for the people that actually live here and pay for it.

 

[spongy]

Tend to agree but I suppose the council argument will be that the i360 will bring money into the city through tourism. Whereas a leisure centre would just be useful for the people that actually live here and pay for it.

Not really, I used to go to Guildford regularly just to go ice skating and for hockey training. The nearest other ice rink I believe is in Streatham.

A good one will pull in visitors from a big catchment area.

 

[BBassic]

I don't understand the point of that tower. You go up top and will see the Downs, the city and the sea. I can do that from my office window. Moreover I'd wager you get a better view of all those things from certain points on the Downs themselves.

Utter waste of money.

 

[Superphil]

I see that B&H council are preparing to throw £36 million at the i360 (the tall pole with a viewing platform).

No private funding could be found for this as it doesn't stack up financially. All the estimates have been based on it being 100% full all the time which of course will not happen.

Would this public money surely not be better spent on a decent leisure centre with proper ice rink etc?

The King Alfred centre has been a disgrace for years and a city of this size needs something decent for its citizens to go to.

Look at Guildfords leisure centre http://www.guildfordspectrum.co.uk/index.php

Something along these lines would be better, or would it?

Thoughts?

Couldn't agree more, but can you imagine the grief in finding a suitable site, with acceptable transport links, to satisfy not only the green party, but also the wider nimby attitude of anything that goes to planning in Sussex?

 

[Papa Lazarou]

I don't understand the point of that tower. You go up top and will see the Downs, the city and the sea. I can do that from my office window. Moreover I'd wager you get a better view of all those things from certain points on the Downs themselves.

Utter waste of money.

Stick it on the top of the downs - you'd get an even more amazing view.

 

[ditchy]

Couldn't agree more, but can you imagine the grief in finding a suitable site, with acceptable transport links, to satisfy not only the green party, but also the wider nimby attitude of anything that goes to planning in Sussex?

Blackrock by the Marina !

 

[Return of the Rev]

With central government reducing cash to the council and services getting cut to our most vulnerable its not the best time to go throwing cash at follies

 

[Milton Keynes Seagull]

It should be remembered that sports facilities in Brighton and Hove attract people from all over Sussex and further afield. You just have to look at the fan base that has always existed for the Albion. A city like Brighton & Hove should provide its citizens with the finest sports and recreational facilities and that includes as a priority the provision of a new ice rink and the re-establishment of the Brighton Tigers ice hockey team. That would benefit the people of the area and bring in revenue from tourists as well. Such a project could and should involve the private sector to assist in financially underpinning the project.

 

[Superphil]

Blackrock by the Marina !

Like I said, transport and nimbys. The Regency Society or whatever thay're called would be vehermently against it, as for transport, how would that work? It's miles from the station, car parking would inflame the council, don't think the Vokes could cope.

 

[Gullflyinghigh]

I don't understand the point of that tower. You go up top and will see the Downs, the city and the sea. I can do that from my office window. Moreover I'd wager you get a better view of all those things from certain points on the Downs themselves.

Utter waste of money.

I think your mistake is assuming that there will be a point to the tower for those of us that live near/in B&H, there really won't be, much like the wheel next to the pier.

 

[Hotchilidog]

Blackrock by the Marina !

There was going to be an arena at Black Rock but the funding dried up for it, and there was also problems with transporting 10,000 people to and from it for gigs. Shame, would love to have seen it built and Brighton get a hockey team. As for the King Alfred we could have had a Frank Gehry masterpiece, including a new modern leisure centre but the nimbys foiled that plan.

Should the i-360 ever get built it should prove a massive boost to that area and Preston Street in particular, i personally think it would be hit and the council would get it's money back. Also I believe the money the council has promised to the project comes from a non council-tax source.

 

[halbpro]

Blackrock by the Marina !

Isn't that what was being built there but the money fell through? I agree though. Upgrade the Volks Railway a bit and there'd be more transport to it too.

 

[Badger]

Blackrock by the Marina !

Don't be ridiculous, that is clearly an area of outstanding natural beauty, why would you tarnish such a great area?

 

[Triggaaar]

Couldn't agree more, but can you imagine the grief in finding a suitable site

How about the King Alfred center?

 

[northernseagull]

Hopefully once the tower is built they will throw a KITKAT off it.

All for the new pool, sick to the stomach that Guilford and Worthing have elite pools and we dont : ( Training 4 times a week in a poor venue like Prince Regent is simply not right given the contribution we make to taxes in Sussex.

 

[Notters]

Both please.

 

[Brighton Breezy]

I would absolutely LOVE Brighton to get an ice rink - as long as it was capable of hosting professional ice hockey. Currently no proper, permanent rink in all of Sussex.

However, there are clearly quite large stumbling blocks in terms of where you would put it, funding, planning etc.

 

[CheeseRolls]

There was going to be an arena at Black Rock but the funding dried up for it, and there was also problems with transporting 10,000 people to and from it for gigs. Shame, would love to have seen it built and Brighton get a hockey team. As for the King Alfred we could have had a Frank Gehry masterpiece, including a new modern leisure centre but the nimbys foiled that plan.

Should the i-360 ever get built it should prove a massive boost to that area and Preston Street in particular, i personally think it would be hit and the council would get it's money back. Also I believe the money the council has promised to the project comes from a non council-tax source.

I don't think people really get the point of public/private finance initiatives. They are so often pilloried as a waste of money, when the best ones act like a magnet for new investments. The council money here is a loan. Preston Street used to be the premier restaurant street in Brighton, maybe only 20 years ago. It is so far from that now and businesses are reluctant to invest in these surroundings. This could be the catalyst for change, or it could be a giant white elephant, depending on whether they get the detail right.

Anyone visiting the O2 arena, must wonder what all the fuss was about, over the Millenium Dome. What started off as a white elephant on wasteland has morphed into an entertainment destination.

Cardiff Bay where they built the Welsh Assembly and Opera House, has loads of new shops, restaurants, bars and hotels, because businesses felt confident to invest in the area.

Belfast has spent half a million pounds on a massive art structure Rise or as it is more commonly known the Balls on the Falls. It changes the message that the Falls Road is a trouble line stuck in the past. Whilst it is hard to argue that the money could not have been better spent on local hospitals, if this encourages new investment and new jobs to the area, it will be money well spent.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Agree entirely, the state of leisure facilities in this City are atrocious and certainly more worthwile then this vanity project.

As a keen swimmer what I'd give for a modern 50m pool, anything like the K2 in Crawley would be amazing.