A membership scheme may be needed to help fund permanent repairs to Worthing Pier after it collapsed last year.
However, the council says it will never “walk away” from the pier and put it up for sale.
Worthing Borough Council is drawing up a plan to find external funds, including government and heritage grants, as it does not have enough money to pay for the millions needed for permanent repairs.
Its senior engineer Martin Payne told councillors yesterday that a crack in the ageing structure was the underlying cause of the damage which saw the pier close for almost two months last year.
This damage meant that when it was hit by flotsam and jetsam in October, one of the piles holding up the pier collapsed.
Money meant to replace the pier’s decking was diverted to pay for a temporary repair – and part of a government regeneration grant has now been reallocated to pay for the decking, which should now be replaced by the end of April.
The council is now drawing up a funding plan for both the pier and the wider seafront including Worthing Lido, looking in particular at heritage grants and community involvement.
At a meeting of Adur and Worthing’s joint overview and scrutiny committee last night, cabinet member and regeneration lead Rita Garner said: “We know that we’re talking millions of pounds. we very much hope that energy and enthusiasm that’s been shown for the pier can be harnessed in a number of ways.
“If a membership scheme looks to be part of that, we can certainly look to include it.”
Chief executive Catherine Howe said: “We’ve put a temporary fix in place and what needs to happen now is something that takes the pier and the seafront into the future. It’s obvious that’s what the town wants and what we need to be the custodians of.”
She added: “I cannot see any current possibility that this council could relinquish its custodianship of the pier.
“The pier damage and temporary repair have shown how important the pier is to Worthing and this council will not walk away from it.”
Martin Payne, senior engineer: It is likely that the failed pile collapsed after being struck by flotsam and jetsam at high tide and that the collapse occurred due to the weakness in the pile from cracking.
“The cracking in those piles is the main reason for the collapse.”
