SIMON Kirby has called on the city council to lift the secrecy surrounding plans to redevelop the seafront and let him play a role in helping secure the millions needed for its rebuilding.

The Brighton Kemptown MP has expressed his “frustration” about the lack of information coming from the local authority on their plans to redevelop the crumbling Madeira Drive terraces.

Mr Kirby said he requested meetings with the council and updates on the project in September but said he had not any reply from the authority in two months.

He said he could only take the case for funding to Government ministers if he had something “concrete and tangible to sell".

Seafront businesses were told they would have to leave Madeira Drive in August after major concerns about the Victorian structure were revealed by structural engineers.

Details on the £30 million project to demolish and rebuild the seafront have been kept under wraps by the council with leader Warren Morgan promising to reveal all before Christmas.

Council bosses say that the secrecy is necessary to ensure that the council adheres to strict tendering rules.

But Mr Kirby called on the council to involve him more in the process and trust him with confidential information.

He added it would be a shame if the plans came forward fully finalised without input from residents and local businesses.

Mr Kirby said: “I have been trying to bring together a coalition of the willing but I have been frustrated with the lack of information from the council.

“I have offered to meet with them, I have offered to help them but I have to say I have not been included.

“This whole thing was very much alive in August, I asked for a meeting in September and I also asked the council at the start of September to keep me in the loop.

“Now it’s nearly December and I’ve not heard anything.”

Mr Kirby said there was no point in arguing about past failures to maintain the arches and that efforts should all be directed at seizing the moment as a “fantastic opportunity” to redevelop the seafront and rejuvenate that part of the city.

Councillor Warren Morgan said that a senior officer would be in contact with Mr Kirby to update him on the project.

The authority should learn after Wednesday’s spending review if they have been successful in their bid for £50,000 of Coastal Revival Funding to help develop the Madeira Terrace regeneration master plan.