Conservative Group Leader Steve Bell has called on the Labour Administration to attach a Directors Guarantee on the full amount of money loaned (£36.2m plus all deferred £7.118m) to the i360.
The struggling attraction has once again failed to meet its twice-yearly loan repayment due to Brighton & Hove City Council and this week the Administration agreed to a series of further deferments extending to June 2021.
Councillor Bell said that he was concerned that Brighton & Hove taxpayers were not being adequately protected by the Labour Administration’s decision.
“We don’t have any guarantees at any point of any time that the i360 will actually ever repay any of the monies that is due to us” Cllr Bell said.
“So I have asked before and I have asked again that we actually consider using Directors Guarantees.
“If the board as it has stated is that confident in the success of the i360 and in the success of their business plan I would recommend that we ask them to put down a Directors Guarantee to ensure and protect the citizens of the city” he said.
The council committed to considering the issue and bringing it to a working group.
The decision from Wednesday Policy and Resources (Recovery) Subcommittee is as follows:
(1) That it be agreed to defer £150,000 from the December 2019 payment in addition to the £880,304.25 which the Policy & Resources Committee agreed to defer on 5th December 2019, on the same terms;
(2) That it be agreed to defer the loan payments due in June and December 2020, but request that any funds over and above the cashflow necessary to keep the attraction operational are paid to the Council in part payment of the sums owed;
(3) That the establishment of a pattern of regular meetings and information provision between the i360 management and board and the i360 Member Working Group, as set out at section 3.14 of the report be agreed; and
(4) That it be noted that officers have not progressed the loan restructure or completed the novation of the Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) loan agreed at Policy & Resources Committee in December 2019 due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the i360 and that they will progress these once the attraction is able to reopen.
ENDS.
