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Portsmouth taxpayers could face bill for Spinnaker Tower claim
Taxpayers could be forced to cough up thousands of pounds the Spinnaker Tower would have made if its external glass lift had been working.
A Freedom of Information request submitted by The News revealed Portsmouth City Council has received a 'claim' from tower operators Heritage relating to the profits lost because the panoramic lift has been out of action since the tower opened in 2005.
Heritage has confirmed it has written to the council raising concerns over lost revenue in a bid to put pressure on city leaders to get the lift fixed as soon as possible.
Chief executive Juliana Delaney said no legal claim had been made at this stage - but refused to rule it out in future.
'We have continued to press for a resolution and the provision of a safe, comfortable and reliable panoramic lift,' she said.
'We have been as supportive of the council as we possibly can, but this is not what we signed up for, we have not got a complete building.
'But we have not taken any legal action - we are trying to press for a positive resolution. We are leaving ourselves open to make that decision (about legal action) at a later point.
'We have written to the council pointing out what we perceive to be the loss to both parties, as the city council will have lost income as well.
'We are using that to put pressure on everybody to resolve the issues. Visitors love the Spinnaker Tower, and they would love it even more if it had a panoramic lift.'
Mrs Delaney said it was impossible to put an exact figure on the amount the lift could have made if it had been open from the start.
But currently around 1,750,000 people have visited the Spinnaker.Originally visitors were set to pay an extra 2 to use the panoramic lift, so if every person had taken a ride this would amount to 3.5m.
Roger Ching, head of finance at Portsmouth City Council, said: 'I can confirm that there has been a claim relating to loss of profits but I do not think I can go a lot further than that, and the reason is that I am in negotiations with Heritage and Carillion.
'There has certainly been no legal action, but Heritage has approached me with their concerns regarding loss of profits.'
As reported in The News on Saturday, lift experts say they have found a technical solution which should soon see the lift working for the first time in almost five years.
But discussions are ongoing between the city council, Heritage and tower builders Carillion, formerly Mowlem, over who will pay for the work and so far no time frame is in place.
The Spinnaker is not the only tower struggling with its lift. Earlier this month the observation deck on the 124th floor of the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, Dubai, was forced to close a month after it opened.
Reports said the lift had broken down.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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