A very Big mistake for Colwyn Bay and Tourism in North Wales.
Colwyn Bay’s Victoria Pier.
It comes as the Grade II listed structure continues to deteriorate, with bits of balustrade falling off and weakening girders.
In December, the local authority voted to clear the site, and it has now recruited independent environmental consultants Nash Partnership of Bath to advise and support its bid to bring in the bulldozers.
Edward Nash’s firm will test the merits of Conwy’s case for demolition, report monthly and conclude its work by November or December.
Conwy will then submit its planning application – backed by relevant Nash evidence – to the Welsh Government.
A planning application is needed even though it would be to destroy it, but an application to de-list the pier is unlikely.
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Colwyn Bay Pier is set to be demolished
Rob Dix, Bay Life’s regeneration officer, said demolition of the pier was the clear option because the cost of renovation – an albeit disputed restoration cost of £15m plus making a £100,000 surplus a year for structural maintenance – is too high.
He said Bangor’s boardwalk pier is “struggling” and Conwy didn’t want to follow suit. Colwyn Bay pier even “struggled in its heyday”, he said.
Mr Dix said balustrade fragments are falling off and trusses on girders are twisting. He said there’s a public safety issue with fences at nearby works coming down soon.
He admitted the public may be “frustrated” with no resolution to the pier ownership saga after it closed in 2008.
But he too is “frustrated” at ongoing appeals by businessman Steve Hunt, who is taking legal action to have ownership of the pier vested in himself later this year.
Mr Nash told the Daily Post he will investigate whether it’s “worth keeping”, adding: “Within Colwyn Bay the pier is or was a phenomenon.
“The whole context of the pier has been changed. Perhaps with the waterfront, the new beach, the new promenade and the watersports centre, there’s a new story coming along and although there has to be some kind of commemoration of the pier, the place to tell that story is maybe more in the town.”
Mr Nash said preserving its dilapidated murals by Eric Ravilious and Mary Adshead “may not stack up”.
But the consultant believes that there could be a way to use film and other media to preserve the pier’s murals and history more accessibly.
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