Refurbishment of Eastbourne’s Winter Garden gains support

On Monday (March 16), Eastbourne Borough Council’s cabinet supported proposals to spend £3m on finishing the refurbishment of the Winter Garden as part of the wider Devonshire Quarter redevelopment.

While a final decision on the proposals requires the support of the full council, the £3m funding would be expected to bring the building back into use, with a new kitchen, front entrance and fascia among the improvements.

Although going to full council, the decision is expected to be uncontroversial, as the Conservative group has given its support to the proposals.

Speaking on behalf of his group at the cabinet meeting, Robert Smart (Con, Meads) described the Winter Garden refurbishment – as well as repairs to Eastbourne Bandstand and the reinstatement of the town’s seafront lighting – as being ‘long overdue’.

Cllr Smart said: “Myself and my group have no problem in the fact that all three need urgent attention. I am not even going to quibble about the numbers. 

“But I think the issue is simply to remind you that in the original £44m [Devonshire Quarter] budget there was £6m for the Winter Garden. Because of the overrun on other areas the work on the Winter Garden has been significantly scaled back. 

“Let me assume that the £3m is now the right number but the last full year of operation of the Winter Garden was five years ago. That is unacceptable.”

The Winter Garden has been closed since 2017 as part of the redevelopment of the Devonshire Quarter, which has seen the Congress Theatre renovated, the construction of the new Welcome Building, a new plaza and landscaping and improved tennis facilities within the park itself.

The refurbishment of the 140-year-old Winter Garden, a listed building, was intended to be the final part of the multi-million pound refurbishment of the area.

According to council officials, the refurbishment would be expected to help increase the income of the whole Devonshire Quarter area, once finished. 

An alternative proposal would have seen the work split into two phases (costing £2m, then £1m), however, cabinet members opted to back completing the works in a single phase instead, arguing its long term costs would be lower.

Margaret Bannister, the council’s lead member for tourism, said: “As Cllr Smart said, this is long overdue and we are looking forward to getting this jewel in our crown back into use. 

“It is an income generator for the council the work we are looking at doing is to bring it up to a good standard, where we can rent it out and use it for all the different functions we need, including an extension to the conference facilities. 

“I am recommending option 2 [full refurbishment in a single phase]. With all that is going on it would be so much better so we can present it as a complete finished article, rather than carry on the work at a later date.”