A councillor has promised the council will do all it can to recover millions of pounds owed to it by the i360. Councillor Jacob Taylor, deputy leader of Brighton and Hove City Council, spoke of his frustration at the Brighton landmark’s inability to make regular payments and said the £46.981 million debt is contributing to the council’s gaping budget deficit.
The local authority currently faces a potential budget shortfall of £105 million over four years , with a possible £36 million deficit for the next financial year. Cllr Taylor’s comments come after finance chief Nigel Manvell said the i360 was not performing well enough even to meet a reduced level of repayments. The council aims to renegotiate the loan repayment schedule.
The council borrowed £36 million from the government's Public Works Loan Board in 2014 to get the tourist attraction off the ground. Accounts for the latest full full financial year showed the outstanding debt to the council had hit nearly £50 million. Last year, the i360 was due to hand over almost £1.
5 million, with repayments scheduled for June and December. It paid just £250,000 in June 2023. No payments have been made since then.
In all, the i360 has paid £5.8 million over the past ten years when it had been due to stump up about £20 million. Read more: Brighton i360 won't resume loan payments to council before 2025, bosses admit Mr Manvell told the council’s audit, standards and general purposes committee the outstanding i360 loa.