South Pier

Following the recent press coverage of the opposition to the closure of this car park the Council would like to clarify the position. This car park has never according to current records been in the Council’s ownership, it did however take a lease of the site from the Port Authority for 21 years from 1965 and, while this agreement continued for a few years after expiry, it ceased completely and the site was passed back to the Port Authority a number of years ago.

Accordingly, the transfer to Eastport was from the Port Authority not the Council.

Regrettably in the current challenging time of local government finances the Council is not in the position to take over and run assets on behalf of other landowners unless there is a sustainable use to which they can be put, and unfortunately, while it would consider such opportunities in the future with the known liabilities with this site the income generated when it did operate as a Pay & Display site was insufficient to cover the annual running costs.