It’s not too late to correct matters
I FOLLOWED Cllr. Tutt’s explanation of the Wish Tower Sun Lounge And Café (Herald, January 6) and would like to know where the £400,000 maintenance bill comes from, and why if it puts the building back in a good state, it is considered such a prohibitive sum, because it is only 50 years old.
The food inspectors reported improvements in leaseholder’s catering between March 2010 and March 2011, with no structural issues.
The council didn’t come out of the end of lease in court well at all. What were the costs for the legal department?
Rent due was set against the compensation figure and reduced accordingly. So, because rent was owed, it was knocked off the compensation.
It was a six-figure loss to the council, not a saving to be grateful for.
It was nice to see a calendar view of the Wish Tower, showing this historical and picturesque site with the café, the unobtrusive design that it is, and not the close up beach view of the balcony overhanging a deserted section of promenade and dismal sea wall.
Now we have a wrecked building next to the scenic Napoleonic tower. The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympics are coming up.
How short-sighted is that? We’ll have something more ambitious by then, will we?
The Sun Lounge And Café is a living memorial. Pages can be written about that.
It’s not just the killed and injured, it’s the fortitude of those resident in the war years.
How many over the years have visited and said, “I was here in the war years and this is for me.”?
Let me close with a story that it represents, away from the heat of battle. At the time, a Spitfire pilot dramatically shot at a bomber over Eastbourne, after it had dropped bombs in Hampden Park, killing three council workmen on salvage work.
The bomber crashed in Meads, but didn’t hit a building or kill anybody on the ground.
It killed the crew and provoked a newspaper appeal for funds to build a Spitfire, which soon poured in.
Bricks and mortar. It’s not too late for local contractors to come forward with reasonable quotations to put things right.
It will be good for the town. Isn’t that what councillors are supposed to work for?
ANDREW SOMERVILLE
Upperton Gardens
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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owenobs
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 04:07 PMIt would seem to be an excellent opportunity to promt area builders, contractors and artisans to practice their craft; and include the new wave of apprentices I recall reading about last year. The project could be completed as a "cost and materials" enterprise, providing work and experience for a new generation of craftsmen to show their abilities. It could also provide an opportunity for even the most rabid opponant and conspiracy theorist, to get involved. In the interest of full-disclosure. I once had an aunt who worked at the Wish Tower Restaurant and there was stung by a bee!
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