Category Archives: Colwyn Bay pier

Press release dated 25 January, 2010:

Following last Friday’s meeting at Colwyn Bay Town Hall to discuss the future of the Victoria Pier, Clwyd West MP, David Jones, has arranged a meeting with Conwy Chief Executive, Byron Davies, on February 16, to discuss options for the way forward.

David Jones said:

“The large attendance at last Friday’s meeting showed the strong desire in Colwyn Bay to see the Victoria Pier restored. On a show of hands at the meeting, over 90% indicated that, not only did they support the pier’s restoration, but that they were willing to contribute to it financially.

“The principal stumbling block is the question of the pier’s ownership. It seems that the council remains in litigation with Mr Steve Hunt and that the freehold of the pier is still technically in the ownership of administrators.

“The council and Mr Hunt hold the key to progress. I feel very strongly that they should now negotiate actively with a view to finding an end to the dispute. Similarly, the administrators should be prepared to negotiate a settlement of their own claim. When that has been concluded, it should be possible to find a way of dealing with the legal title to the pier.

“Many people who spoke at the meeting, and most of those to whom I have spoken since, consider that the best way of proceeding is to set up a charitable trust, with a view to acquiring the pier and exploring the cost and best means of restoring it.

“This will probably require another meeting to form a steering committee. I am happy to facilitate such a meeting and anyone interested in this suggestion should please email my office at owenj at parliament.uk.

“The further meeting will take place after I have had my discussions with the council.”

 ENDS

To repeat, the Colwyn Bay pier meeting was astonishingly well attended; even more people turned up than to the Walton meeting a couple of years ago.  Sadly, not everyone had received the message that pre-booking was desirable; the consequence was that an estimated 200 had to be turned away.  If you weren’t able to get in, apologies, but the very fact that you were turned away underlines how passionate people are about the pier.

And passion there certainly was in the council chamber.  A large number of people (including this blog’s commenters, David Curtis and Monty Slocombe) spoke with great feeling about how much they wanted to see the pier restored.  The pier, it seems, has become a symbol of Colwyn Bay’s relative decline; the desire to see it restored is also the desire to see the town regenerated.

I was truly sorry that Conwy county council decided not to send officer representation to the meeting; it is true that litigation with Mr Hunt is continuing, but I feel there was no reason why a representative could not have attended and listened quietly to the views expressed.  County and town councillors were, however, present and all credit to them for that.

Shows of hands revealed that an estimated 90 per cent or more of the audience wanted to see the pier restored, with a similar percentage willing to contribute financially to the project.  A large number appeared also to be willing to explore the possibility of forming a new charitable trust as a vehicle for the pier’s restoration.

My next step is to arrange a meeting with Conwy’s chief executive to discuss further progress.  It is essential that Mr Hunt, the county and the pier administrators enter into active dialogue to resolve the current legal dispute.  It would be tragic if further delay made the pier’s restoration even more of a challenge.

My thanks to fellow North Wales bloggers (especially Oscar, John Oddy, Jason Weyman and Chameleon) for helping to publicise the event.

And, most of all, my thanks to the people of Colwyn Bay for the passion and fighting spirit they showed last night.

A very long and busy day.

The pier meeting at Colwyn Bay town hall was extraordinarily well attended, and sadly two hundred or so had to be turned away, because we simply couldn’t accommodate any more.

I’ll blog about it tomorrow, but I’m sure you’ll forgive me if I turn in now.