The annual 5th November Worthing Lions fireworks display will not be able to be held on Worthing Pier this year.
Today the council has contacted the Lions to advise them that unfortunately it can’t be certain that it will be safe for the Lions to use the pier for the fireworks event next month. Worthing Borough Council has been keeping the Lions and the pier businesses updated over the past fortnight, since the council’s engineers identified that a pier support had suffered storm damage.
Over the last few days, the council’s contractors have been working hard to stabilise the piles near to where the pier suffered the storm damage that forced its closure on safety grounds earlier this month.
During this tidal window, council engineers have also been investigating the safety of the structure to try to find a way to reopen the pier to at least a limited number of people before a full repair of it can take place.
While engineers have been examining the piles either side of the one that had to be removed, they have identified that those supports had also suffered hidden damage. It is believed this has been caused by the extra strain they are currently under from the weight of the pier.
The council believes it would still be a risk to the public if people were allowed onto the pier – even in small numbers – until the structure has been stabilised with extra supports. These extra supports will increase the scale of the repair and the council cannot currently have any certainty that they can be in place by 5th November.
This news will be disappointing for the Lions, as well as the businesses on the pier who the council had hoped to help by providing them with limited access. Because there is so much uncertainty about whether extra support could be put in place before 5th November, the council has taken the difficult decision in collaboration with the Lions to cancel the event now rather than waiting until closer to the night.
Council leader Sophie Cox said:
“We know how disappointing this will be both for the Lions and the many thousands of people across the borough who come out to enjoy the fireworks each year, but keeping people safe must come first.
“We’ve worked closely with the Lions to try to find an alternative location but this is such a huge event and we’ve had so little time that it has been impossible.
“Our teams are continuing to work hard with our contractors to get the pier reopened as soon as it is possible to be sure anyone going on it will be safe.”
The council hopes to continue working on the pier in the next tidal window, which is due from 14th November. In the meantime, the pier will unfortunately have to remain closed until further notice.
You can get the latest information on the work by visiting https://www.adur-worthing.gov.uk/worthing-pier-temporary-closure/.