Pavilion trust takes control

The subject was debated behind closed doors on Monday.

The original plan was for work on the pavilion to start last Summer and for the public to retain limited access.

But potential contractors responding to the initial invitation to submit tenders, said Health and Safety regulations made this impossible and the building would have to be closed for the duration of the work.

When the De La Warr Pavilion closed to the public last December, pavilion trust chairman Dr Richard Sykes told the Observer at a close-down party: "We are hoping that the builders will be coming here in January. We will be opening the tenders in the next few days."

At that stage it was hoped that work would be completed by the Spring of 2005.

Since then both Rother and the Trust have remained tight-lipped.

Under the terms of the Lottery grant, Rother handed over the running of the pavilion to the trust last year. A second round of tenders had to be sought on a revised specification after the initial submissions were found to be way over budget. There has been cabinet discussion since then on a trust request to take over the handling of the refurbishment contract.

Monday's Rother cabinet meeting was due to receive a report from director of services Tony Leonard on the latest tenders.

But before the cabinet met the decision was taken to advise councillors not to discuss this in open session with press and public present but to go into camera because of the confidential nature of business figures.

Rother leader Cllr Graham Gubby this week issued a statement in response to the Observer's enquiries.

He said: "We had a very deep and wide-ranging debate before any decision was taken.

"We were determined to do the best thing for the residents of Rother who have in the past and will continue to expect the maximum use possible for the public money that is put into it and we considered carefully what was right for the charitable trust and the council to protect the building works programme.

"When reaching our decision we had regard to all the relevant information. There are 'benefits other than purely financial' in transferring the capital works to the charitable trust.

"The consideration of the charitable trust to take on the entire Lottery project was considered at the outset of the Lottery Application.

"At that time the charitable trust was in its infancy and had no track record. It has now been in existence for six years and operating the pavilion for nearly a year.

"As such it would seem that the lottery boards no longer question the viability of the charitable trust. Therefore, more recently the charitable trust has again expressed a desire to run the capital project and take early transfer of the lease. The particular benefits we acknowledged were:

r Greater flexibility to undertake fundraising with monies raised going direct to the trust rather than to Rother District Council. This was of course one of the main reasons for the charitable trust being set up as Rother District Council's previous fundraising attempts via the pavilion trust were constrained.

* Giving the charitable trust greater ownership and decision-making on the project to which they will be the eventual leaseholder and operator.

*Having the ability to make decisions will strengthen their business plan and generate additional revenue funding.

* Furthermore, from the council's perspective we felt that the charitable trust has greater capacity to cope with the project.

"I wish them every success and look forward to their long term development and increasing contribution to Bexhill and Rother."

Pavilion director Alan Haydon said of the decision: "We are very pleased with this decision that now enables the Trust to move swiftly forward with the Pavilion's redevelopment work. We look forward to giving news of this as soon as possible.

"The strong partnership between Rother District Council and the Trust will continue, not only in respect of the Pavilion but for the good of Bexhill's broader regeneration ambitions."