Aim-The West Pier Trust's aims are to preserve and improve the pier and the area surrounding it, to promote high standards of planning and architecture.

Background- Created in 1978, the West Pier Trust is a not-for-profit charity and limited company which owns the pier. Initially, the Trust's aims were to restore the pier and eventually bring it back to public use, this was an extremely ambitious goal as the restoration would be expensive. In 1998 the Heritage Lottery fund gave the West Pier Trust a £14.2 million grant, restoration therefore begun to make genuine headway, and was on the brink of completion in 2003 when two arson attacks destroyed the pavilion and concert hall. Now, with very little hope of fully restoring the pier, the Trust has revaluated their aims, and decided to focus on preserving the pier's heritage.

Benefits/ Why does it link to Environmental Citizenship-The West Pier Trust is an example of conservation citizenship because it works towards conserving and promoting good planning and architecture in its area, thus providing an example for other architectural or conservation schemes and conserving the West Pier without profiting from any aspect of it. It benefits people new to the area by providing knowledge of the pier and its history. It has also become involved with schools in the surrounding area creating activities such as Education programmes to provide further knowledge to varying generations.

Contact details- 01273 321 499, Postal Address: Brighton West Pier Trust Kings Road Brighton BN1 2FL, Email: info@westpier.co.uk

Related articles: http://www.westpier.co.uk/news/regeneration-of-the-west-pier-site/