John Pugh Urges for Immediate Southport Pier Repairs Following Fire

The recent fire on Southport Pier makes the case for a prompt start on Pier repairs according to John Pugh, opposition leader on Sefton Council. 

The Liberal Democrat councillor believes that the Pier is particularly vulnerable to fire damage and had previously made a film about the first three Pier fires  https://youtu.be/FfGFA24lDXE  - Each fire had a devastating and long term effect on the Pier.  “Thankfully through prompt action we dodged a bullet this week because going by previous history damage could have been a lot worse. 

We know from the fate of the Hesketh Centre that disused facilities are often the most at risk.

There is a clear case for getting on with the restoration without further delay. The Council have told us they have the contractor lined up and that they are sure the government will provide some financial support and have £3 million already allocated in this year's budget for repairs. There is no longer any case for delay. Any cash flow problems can be dealt with by the normal process of internal borrowing within the Council. 

To have contractors on site is the best insurance against further fires. To leave everything as it is until next year or later only makes the eventual task bigger. Corrosion is like cancer. The longer you leave it the worse and the more costly it gets and the Pier has already been sitting there with problems  since it was closed by the knee-jerk reaction of Sefton in 2022. “