Leaders in pledge to create homes and jobs as Greater Brighton discussed for the first time

Hundreds of homes, thousands of jobs and flood defences that are built to last – that is what Greater Brighton will deliver.

The pledge came as local leaders from the political, business and education sectors met at the first gathering of the Greater Brighton Economic Board at the Amex stadium today (Tuesday May 20).

The hope is by coming together those representing the districts from Worthing to Newhaven and Brighton to Burgess Hill can bring hundreds of millions of pounds of investment into the area.

Despite government ministers only signing off on the deal in March, those sitting on the board said some change is already starting to happen.

But Brighton and Hove City Council leader Jason Kitcat told Latest TV it will take up to five years for the area to develop as a whole.

Cllr Kitcat said: “I think what you will see is more promotion of the city region, more bids to government for cash on a city regional basis, transport getting more connected over time and investment being more smartly managed over the area.

“In the next 12 months we will probably start to see projects like New England House moving forward but it will not be until the three to five year perspective that you’ll get a more clearer sense of Greater Brighton as a city region working together in a whole stream of areas.”

The Greater Brighton City Deal started a six year programme of investment.

But the signing of document was only the start of the work.

Now, those sitting on the board must convince the government to back some of the projects it has put on its wish list.

In Brighton and Hove there are number of key sites.

Work on one of these – redeveloping the New England House tower block, off London Road, into a place with flexible workspace and a hub for the city’s digital industry – is expected to start next year.

The £25 million project already has a pledge of about £5 million from the government but the rest must be found either from the local authority or private business.

Other areas, such as the development of Preston Barracks and development of the bio-innovation sector at the University of Sussex, require a bit more work.

Ian Parkes, of Coast to Capital local enterprise partnership (LEP), said it was bidding to the Government for money to help unlock schemes such as these.

He said with the help of £145 million of public and higher education investment, he felt about £1.3 billion of private sector investment could be generated across the Greater Brighton area.

This would result in 20,000 jobs, 11,000 homes and 495,000 sq m of employment space.

With the government not yet committing any money to the LEPs after 2015/16, he urged those attending there was a need to get a “spade in the ground” as quickly as possible.

If they failed to convince projects were ready to go, then the chances of winning any money was slim.

Another focus will be Newhaven, where the board claims there is “huge potential for employment and key needs”.

However, in order to build, it needs to deal with the issue of flooding, which currently can see some plots affected by water once every two years.

Thanks to the City Deal, about £9 million has been allocated towards improving the flood defences – most of it from the Environment Agency – and it is hoped making land more secure will open up previously dormant sites.

In turn, it is claimed this could create up to 7,000 jobs and bring nearly £200 million into the area.

Flood defences are also an important part of the work in Shoreham, with £25 million earmarked to help get the harbour development going.

Moving north, it is hoped funding can be found to create a new science and business park in Burgess Hill. This will also see the building of up to 5,000 homes.

For those businesses already set up, the Greater Brighton board will have access to a £1.8 million pot to support firms and interns.

Nick Hibberd, head of city regeneration at the city council, said: “What we have achieved is five local authority areas across Greater Brighton with a combined population of 600,000 and business base of about 25,000.

“It’s quite unique as other city regions across the country have limited themselves to the local authorities or metropolitan areas which they serve.

“But here we have recognised the importance of businesses, business leaders and educational partners which is something others have not been able to do.

“This allows us to really build on our strength but also helps us address the challenges.”