Future Of Pier Still Uncertain

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30634, 28 December 1964, Page 1

Future Of Pier Still Uncertain

The future of the New Brighton pier is still uncertain.

The New Brighton Pier and Foreshore Promotion Association has about £lOOO in cash and promises for its fund to restore the pier. It has obtained an estimate of £17,500 as the cost of restoring the pier, and the chairman (Mr P. D. Dunbar) said yesterday that a determined drive would be made to raise the fund to £lO,OOO before the middle of next year.

When the association had this nest egg, Mr Dunbar said, it would decide whether to restore the pier or build a new one.

Tests of the 100 piles of the pier, 700 ft long, have shown them to be sound above the water mark. Very few of the piles will have to be replaced, according to the tests carried out.

However, Mr A. E. Bodger, a 74-year-old resident of New Brighton, and formerly the City Council works foreman for the district, is convinced that the piles at the sea end of the pier may well be rotten below the present level of the sea floor.

Mr Bodger said that in 1894, there was a depth of 18ft of water at the sea end of the pier. In 1952, there was only Bft of water. There has been a build-up of at least 10ft in the level of the sea frontage at New Brighton this century, according to Mr Bodger. Mr Bodger can remember when the sea at some high tides used to flow down Seaview road as far as Oram avenue. He points to the old Sumner pier to illustrate the rise in the level of sand along Pegasus Bay south of the Waimakariri. More Tests

“The piles, particularly at the seaward end, should be tested below the present level of sand before they can be said to be safe. A great many of the piles will have been eaten away by marine insects over the 10ft length where the sea-floor level has been built up,” he said.

Mr Bodger has resigned from the New Brighton Pier and Foreshore Promotion Association’s executive committee because he considers

that putting a new deck on the old piles without testing them below sand level would be throwing money away.

Mr Dunbar said that the committee was well aware of Mr Bodger’s views, and had asked the City Council engineer for the district (Mr A. R. Mac Gibbon) to have the piles tested below sea level.

“We will not restore the pier before the City Council is satisfied that the piles are sound,” Mr Dunbar said. Mr Bodger considers that the pier, if restored, would not pay its way. “The pier was built in 1894, and it never paid its way. It cost £l5OO then, and was losing money within two years. The charge to get on the pier was Id. It was raised to 2d when Charlie Agar, who has a ship chandler’s business in Lyttelton, bought it from the company that built it. The company was in liquidation. “Never Made Money”

“The pier never made money. About 50 years ago, there were dressing sheds underneath the pier, and money was made from these. I can recall £BO being taken on a Sunday for use of the

dressing sheds and hire of costumes and towels. “Now the council has built modern dressing sheds on the foreshore and there is no charge for the use of these, so there can be no revenue from dressing sheds on the restored pier. "There was also a fun fair at the entrance to the old pier, and some revenue was obtained from that. Now the restaurant goes right across the entrance to the pier. This means that the restored pier would have no direct access to Marine parade. “There' is talk of charging 2s 6d to go on to the restored pier—in my opinion, the revenue would not pay the wages of the man collecting it,” Mr Bodger said. Mr Dunbar, on the other hand, thinks that the pier could be made to pay its way. He said that plans for its restoration included board walks from Marine parade on either side of the Ocean View restaurant to give direct access to the landward end of the pier. Turnstiles would be built at the landward entrance of the pier itself.

“The Pier and Foreshore Promotion Association’s aims include the whole of the foreshore from Spencer Park to

South Brighton and the Spit.

“No firm decision has been made to restore the pier, because the testing of the piles has yet to be done. We are seking information about piers at holiday resorts the world over. We have information about a splendid-look-ing pier in Holland. Cost Of New Pier

“Building a new pier could cost £150,000, and restoring the old one would, of course, be much cheaper.

“We have concentrated on the pier because we consider it a focus for the Brighton area, from Waimairi to the Spit. The pier has been a landmark, and restoring it, or building a new one, would make a novel attraction for the seaside area. “The association’s aim is to build up the attractions on the foreshore over the whole area, not just the restoration of the pier. Any funds raised would go into a trust fund for improvements on the foreshore. Improvements are needed and would be of benefit to the whole of Christchurch,” Mr Dunbar said. He said that the association would make an appeal for funds to all the public in Christchurch and district early next year.