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Councillors have voted to demolish Colwyn Bay’s crumbling Victoria pier.

Around £15m would be needed to restore the113-year-old Grade II-listed structure.

But during a meeting of Conwy Council this morning, councillors sensationally voted in favour of knocking it down at a cost of nearly £1m.

Although questions remain over its ownership and how long it would take Cadw to remove its listed building status.

In a passionate, two-hour debate, Conwy Councillors heard from officers that funding towards its £15,269,902 restoration from the Welsh Government and European Union would be harder to find than in previous years.

In addition, Conwy will need to save £14.6m next year and £12.2m the following year.

Cllr Dave Cowans said it would be a “massive risk” to take on the long term future of the pier, currently costing the authority £53,000 a year to maintain.

With a choice of six options, councillors voted by a majority for option one, which stated: “Seek de-listing and demolish the entire pier”.

After the meeting businesman Steve Hunt called the proceedings “farcical” because he believes a Cardiff County Court case will uphold his ownership of the Victorian pier, which was built in 1900.

The next hearing in Mr Hunt's case is due to be held in February.

He said: “It’s farcical. The only people who say Conwy Council owns the pier are Conwy Council. They think if they keep repeating it people will believe it.”

He added: “They can’t demolish a listed building.”

Mr Hunt, who joined about 20 Save The Pier supporters and residents in the public gallery, wore a black denim jacket with the words “The Nightmare Before Christmas” in red stitching on it.

Also outside the council chamber in Bodlondeb, pier group campaigner Gavin Davies, Shore Thing Ltd director, said: “We urge the public to go back and lobby their councillors to get this (demolition) decision reversed due to the fact there’s a lot of funding options out there. We can prove to Cadw it’s savable.”

He said that Hastings pier in East Sussex, built in 1872, was an example of how a heritage structure could be restored successfully.

On Conwy’s decision, he said: “They’re rushing things. Colwyn Bay pier has stood since 1900. We had one of the worst storms in years last week and it’s still there.”

Earlier in the debate, Cllr Ronnie Hughes said: “This authority at the moment cannot afford to put a penny into capital projects. Sometimes it’s better to pull out now and not mislead people than to say to the Heritage Lottery Fund we’ve not got the funds. That would be morally wrong.”

Cllr Brian Cossey said Conwy was in a “cleft stick” and it would be difficult to vote to demolish something which had been in his “back garden” for 60 years.

He added: “If we try to have the property de-listed I’m sure Shore Thing and other people will object.”

Sasha Davies, Conwy’s strategic director - economy and place, said trying to restore it would be financially risky.

She said: “If all the funding was in place, once the restoration was done we would hand over operations of the pier to Shore Thing. But under the terms of the draft lease if Shore Thing couldn’t finance the pier that would be handed back to the council. That’s a significant risk for the authority.”

She said £37m is already going to Colwyn Bay’s waterfront and it is “very unfortunate” to have an “eyesore” close to Porth Eirias.

But she said £311,000 would be needed by Shore Thing towards any £15m pier project. Shore Thing recently raised £2,000 in three weeks from supporters.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT:

It might take up to two years to have the Grade II listing of Colwyn Bay’s Victoria Pier removed.

Conwy Councillors have voted to de-list then demolish Colwyn Bay’s Victoria Pier.

But Clwyd West MP David Jones said the de-listing by Wales historic environment service Cadw could take up to 24 months.

He said the unresolved ownership tussle between Conwy Council and Steve Hunt also creates uncertainty.

He said: “How long is the court action likely to take? What happens if Conwy loses the action? They will have to revisit the whole thing.”

He also said local people will want to know the cost of demolition with only a “ballpark figure” of £1m available at present. If it’s higher, it could become a “significant burden to the taxpayer”.

He would support a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the restoration, removal and display of the pier pavilion’s Eric Ravilious and Mary Adshead murals from the 1930s.

A Cadw spokesman said: “For any delisting request to be successful it would need to be accompanied by new evidence to demonstrate that the pier was listed in error.”

CADW’s guidelines state a Grade II listed building is “of special interest (and) warrant (s) every effort being made to preserve them.”