Arson-hit pier to rise from ashes with £11m lotto grant

The £11.4m from the HLF will provide the lion’s share of the £13.9m needed to restore the Grade II-listed Hastings Pier in East Sussex by the end of 2014.

The pier has stood as a burnt-out eyesore since it was almost destroyed in an arson attack in October 2010 following years of decay.

Nothing was done by its absent Panama-registered owner, Ravenclaw Investments, to restore the structure, which was once proclaimed “the peerless pier”.

The lack of effort led the local authority, Hastings Borough Council, to seek a compulsory purchase order in order to hand control of the pier to the Hastings Pier and White Rock Trust.

Reacting to yesterday’s announcement, trust chief executive Simon Opie said: “This is a brilliant decision by the Heritage Lottery Fund for the future of the pier and the future of Hastings.

“We now need to move quickly to put everything into place to enable us to start work on the pier in spring next year and we very much look forward to having the pier reopened by the end of 2014.”

Carole Souter, chief executive of the HLF, said: “Hastings Pier has lived through over 150 years of history, from gentler Victorian times through to the Swinging Sixties and beyond.

“We’re delighted to be backing these ambitious restoration plans which will not only save the fabric of the pier but also put it right back at the heart of the community, providing much-needed opportunities for social and economic regeneration.”

Comedian Jo Brand, who grew up in Hastings, said she could not wait to see the structure “rise out of the ashes”. She said: “Hastings Pier was where I spent a great deal of time as a teenager and it was the gathering point for a whole generation looking to see bands and dance the night away.”

Up to 95 per cent of the pier, which had been closed since 2006, was damaged in the arson attack in on October 5 2010.

Two men, then aged 18 and 19, were arrested shortly afterwards but the Crown Prosecution Service later announced that there was not enough evidence to bring charges.