Hastings Pier Acts of Parliament

• 1861 General Pier and Harbour Act to facilitate the Formation, Management, and Maintenance of Piers and Harbours in Great Britain and Ireland
• 1867 Act for the Construction of a Pier at Hastings (to be built within 3 years)
• 1871 Act for confirming certain Provisional Orders made by the Board of Trade under the General Pier and Harbour Act 1861

      The 1871 Act enabled the following toll charges for Hastings Pier

• For every passenger or other person who shall land on the Company’s Pier from, or embark from it on board of, any Ship, Vessel, Packet or Passage boat for each and every Time any Sum not exceeding…. £0.0.6
• For every person who shall use the said Pier for the Purpose of walking for Exercise, Pleasure or any other Purpose, except for embarking or disembarking for each and every Time any Dum not exceeding…. £0.0.4
• For every Bath or Sedan Chair taken on the Pier, for each and every Time any Sum not exceeding…. £0.0.6
• For every Perambulator, for each and every Time any Sum not exceeding. £0.0.2
• There were additional rates for Passengers Luggage under and over 112 pounds weight.

• 1890 Act to confirm certain Provisional Orders made by the Board of Trade under the General Pier and Harbour Act 1861 (Enabling landing stages)
• 1914 Act to confirm certain Provisional Orders made by the Board of Trade under the General Pier and Harbour Act 1861 (Enabling widening of the Pier)
• 1937 Act to authorise Hastings Pier Company to raise additional capital and for other purposes
• 1960 Act to increase the powers of Hastings Pier Company and for other purposes
• In the late 1950s - nearly half a century after the 1910/11 work - the Pier Company directors realised that they had been acting without the necessary legal powers in erecting these, and all subsequent buildings.
• The original statute allowing the construction of the pier - the 1867 Hastings Pier Act - had only given permission for it to be used as a promenade, with a pavilion and pleasure boat facilities.
• A new act of Parliament had to be obtained in 1960 - the 1960 Hastings Pier Act - extending the company’s powers to cover all buildings, except the pavilion.