The leader of Brighton and Hove Council says the i360 observation tower is a ‘white elephant’ which should never have been funded with public money.

Cllr Bella Sankey says it is a huge drain on the council’s resources, with the outstanding debt standing at more than £44m.

She said: “Well we know that the business model for the i360 desperately needs to be diversified.

“There’s been some diversification this year, so we have a roller rink and the cricket sixes but we need more because we need to ensure that that money can be repaid.

“We don’t think that the i360 should have ever been funded with public money but the situation we’re in is that it was, and we now need to get those repayments going.”

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