Councillors discuss ups and downs of troubled i360

The i360’s financial woes have led to people contacting councillors with ideas to revive the fortunes of the seafront viewing tower.

Deputy leader Jacob Taylor said that one call came from a millionaire who made his money from a bungee jumping business.

Councillor Taylor spoke about the public response as he took questions from fellow councillors about the £51 million debt owed by the i360 operator to Brighton and Hove City Council.

The questions followed news that Brighton i-360 Limited had filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators, giving it temporary protection from creditors.

Councillor Taylor told a special joint meeting of two scrutiny committees that the council would have to pay £2.2 million a year for the loan that was brokered 10 years ago.

At Hove Town Hall last night (Thursday 28 November) the Labour deputy leader said that the term of the loan would run for another 16 years – until 2040.

Fellow Labour councillor Julie Cattell said that the situation was “disastrous” and asked Councillor Taylor and chief finance officer Nigel Manvell if there were any ideas to deal with the fallout.

Councillor Taylor said: “Ideas are coming, including people ringing me directly. Someone today suggested they used to run a multimillion-pound bungee jumping business in New Zealand and perhaps that could go on the i360.

“People are coming up with ideas and we want ideas and the administrators want ideas. They need to start talking to the country – not just the city – to attract potential investors and potential buyers.”

But in terms of financial planning, Councillor Taylor said that there was little more that the council could do other than lay out the facts at this stage.

Conservative group leader Alistair McNair said that he was concerned about the way in which the i360 debt would affect the current council’s ability to manage taxpayer money.

He criticised Labour for attacking the Greens over the i360 loan decision which was voted through during the first Green administration which ran from 2011 to 2015.

In the past few days Labour and the Greens have been involved in a public spat about the loan which continued in the council chamber during the meeting last night.

Councillor McNair said: “I’m certainly not defending the Greens but Labour have been in power for 18 months. The main story is the i360 collapsed under a Labour administration.

“We should be hearing what Labour have been doing to save the i360. It begs the question that, after all the internal changes at the council, has the administration taken their eye off the ball? Can the council cope?”

He asked for details of what management systems were in place to help save the i360 and protect the 460 staff which was a priority, he said, because of the “huge sum of taxpayer money” at risk.

Councillor Taylor said that he was happy to “turn his ire” on the Tories because former Conservative group leader Geoffrey Theobald had supported the i360 deal.

He had said that the deal would “lead to millions more in revenue” for and criticised former Labour leader Warren Morgan, who voted against the loan, calling him “Councillor No”.

Councillor Taylor said: “We need no lessons from this Tory party in Brighton and Hove about protecting council tax payers’ money and indeed we don’t really need any lessons about the basics of company law which Councillor McNair doesn’t seem to understand.

“Do you not understand this is a private company that you and your lot lent £36 million of our taxpayers’ money to.

“It’s a private company that we acted as a bank or a hedge fund for, giving money to a speculative tourist attraction that hasn’t panned out and hasn’t delivered over many years.

“We do have a further option which was presented to us. It wasn’t a formal request. The council could give more money to the i360 to see if they can get them through a few quarters.”

He said that throwing good money after bad was one option that wouldn’t be on the table.