The council’s cabinet plans to hold an urgent meeting soon to make a key decision about the future of the Madeira Terraces restoration project. Members are expected to appoint a building contractor to start the £12 million first phase of the project although the date of the cabinet meeting has yet to be announced. The urgency comes because the next scheduled meeting of the Brighton and Hove City Council cabinet is not until Thursday 26 September.
Labour councillor Jacob Taylor said that an urgent meeting was required in answer to questions at the first meeting of the council’s new place overview and scrutiny committee. Green and Conservative councillors have criticised delays in restoring the grade II* listed structure, consisting of Victorian terraces and arches, and a contractor was due to appointed by the end of May. But last month the council said that the tendering process for the contract to restore 28 of the arches was taking longer than expected.
Yesterday, at Hove Town Hall, Conservative councillor Ivan Lyons asked for an update on plans for the Madeira Terraces – as did Labour councillor John Hewitt. Councillor Taylor said: “We are very keen to get on with that project. Everyone on this committee – and all parties in the chamber have obviously been involved with the project over the years – are keen to get it going.
“And we are determined as a Labour council to start refurbishing those arches and that’s what we intend to do.” Councillor Lyons also.