An artist's impression of the proposed new Felixstowe pier.
Felixstowe: Crown to make money from resort’s new pier
BY RICHARD CORNWELL, Felixstowe editor
Friday, October 19, 2012
3:30 PM
DEVELOPERS of Felixstowe’s new pier will have to pay a high price for their exciting beachside complex – rent to the highest office in the land.
Crown Estate
■ The Crown Estate has managed the monarch’s landholdings – except those private royal properties such as Balmoral and Sandringham – since 1760.
■ Income from the £8bn portfolio, which also includes government owned buildings and property, is surrendered to the Exchequer, the profit used for benefit of the nation.
■ The Queen is not involved in management decisions.
■ Its portfolio ranges from enormous rural estates to shopping centres, properties in central London to parkland, and, as owner of most of the seabed around the country, offshore wind farms.
For they will need to obtain a lease from the Crown Estate office, which looks after the Queen’s landholdings on behalf of the nation, because the new pier will be built over a larger part of the seabed than before.
Pier Amusements owns the land on which the current pier stands – including the narrow stretch which goes out over the sea.
However, while the new multi-million pound pier will not go out as far into the North Sea, its new leisure centre will protrude further and be wider than the current entertainment building alongside the prom, using seabed owned by the crown.
Planning consultant for the project, Haydn Evans said talks had been taking place with the commissioners at Crown Estate since February.
“In principle they are content with what is going to happen, and we are in discussions about what the rent should be,” he said.
“The land on which the current pier stands is all in the pier owner’s ownership, but we need additional land, below the low water mark, on which to build the new and enlarged pier.”
Planning permission was given last week for the complex, which will include amusements and leisure activities, a function suite for 325 people, bars and restaurants, and a high-tech shipping observation tower.
Work is set to start next year with the opening in mid-July 2014.
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3 comments
I was reading about Tesco`s planned store in Felixstowe and I am delighted at the prospect of a new store . over the years so many shops have closed I just want to see new life in our town. Without a car I am delighted at the prospect of a large new store
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Jan
Monday, October 22, 2012
I keep reading about the pier development and the facilities it is offering , But i keep wondering is there going to be a facility for ANGLERS ..as a boy i spent many a cold and wet , but happy day on the old pier ...Most other piers i have visited do have fishing areas IE Yarmouth, Clacton, Harwich, Lowestoft. ....If so i wouldn't be fishing as a boy anymore but as i approach retirement i would probably relish the idea of a day on the pier again...
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ukmartian
Friday, October 19, 2012
This seems to be an ideal project to undertake in the midst of the deepest recession since the great depression of the 1930s. All the miserable skint people lucky enough to live in Felixstowe will flock to the new facilities in the summer, along with the care-free happy sendaholic hoilidaymakers who will be sure to make a beeline for this new jewel in the crown that is East Anglia.
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bigger niche
Friday, October 19, 2012