Councillors have called for Hastings Pier to come under new management in an effort to improve the safety of its live events.
On Monday (September 2), a Hastings Borough Council licensing panel met to review the terms of a premises licence, which allows music events and alcohol sales to take place on Hastings Pier.
The hearing had been triggered by concerns from the South East Coast Ambulance Trust (SECAmb), which said the provision of medical services at previous events held on the pier had been “significantly below nationally recommended guidelines” and were considered to have fallen to a “dangerous level”.
Speaking at the hearing, Martin Watson, an operational commander with SECAmb’s East Sussex operating unit told councillors his organisation did not want the pier’s licence to be revoked, but did want changes to make events safer.
Mr Watson said: “Both myself as an individual and South East Coast Ambulance Service do believe the pier is a valuable asset for Hastings. It has been over many years, with its continued history and the redevelopment processes it has been through there is so much more it could be for the future.
“As a category one responder … we have to ensure that we not only fully aware but fully planned in situations which may result in emergency situations.
“Mass gatherings exceeding 1,000 persons, do pose significant risks to the health and well-being of many individuals, both those attending events but also those surrounded and impacted by potential activities at events.”
Mr Watson went on to express frustration with the pier’s management, saying he had repeatedly sought to raise his organisation’s concerns through meetings of the local Safety Advisory Group (SAG) but had not had satisfactory responses.
Several other SAG members — including Sussex Police and Hastings Borough Council’s own officers — raised similar concerns during the hearing.
Kirstie Rolfe, a senior licensing officer with Hastings Borough Council, said: “To me this review needs to take into consideration the large amount of work that partner agencies and myself have done to work with [designated premises supervisor Max Wolf], the premises licence holder and the landlords and [event organisers] Slap that Sound.
“When they took over in 2023 … they were rushing things through and we worked with them. But, in the second [summer] season to still be having those same conversations over and over again is just not acceptable and we just cannot sustain this level of work we are all putting in.
“What is quite telling really is that we have had many meetings and visits — [both] announced and unannounced — emails and Safety Advisory Group meetings and we were always told ‘we will get these medical reports, we will get fire risk assessments, we will get the noise management plans’. [But] it is only now, since we brought the review, that we have got this information.
“I am grateful that we haven’t had a major incident, [because] I am not confident, even now, that if one were to happen it would be dealt with in a sufficient manner.”
For their part, representatives of Hastings Pier accepted the venue needed to do more to work with local authorities, agreeing to a number of additional conditions suggested by the council, Sussex Police and SECAmb. These conditions cover a large amount of ground, including noise management and safety measures.
Duncan Craig, a barrister acting on behalf of the pier’s management and owners, was able to secure changes to some of these conditions as he had concerns around their wording, but most were agreed in principle at the very least.
Mr Craig also said his clients had asked him to express their gratitude for the support provided by local authorities.
Ultimately, the panel agreed to impose a range of new and stricter conditions as part of its final decision, the full details of which will be published in the coming days.
They also opted to remove Mr Wolf from his position as designated premises supervisor. Notably, the panel had heard how Mr Wolf, who remains a director of the HPier Limited, had been intending to step down from this position as part of an upcoming application.
This upcoming application is expected to see further changes to the pier’s licensing arrangements, with the potential for it to be split among different businesses.
The panel’s decision is open to appeal through the courts.
