Creators of the great seaside resorts in Sussex showed inspiration and imagination in so many wonderful ways.

In Brighton the Prince Regent produced an exotic palace that still surprises new visitors when they see it for the first time.

The Victorians created the West Pier, by common consent the most beautiful in Britain, and followed it with the Palace Pier, now the most popular attraction in the south east.

They built the biggest aquarium in Britain and the largest hotel (the Metropole) outside London. They erected seafront arches to stop cliffs crumbling.

Railway pioneers chose the direct route from London to Brighton even though it involved four major tunnels and a viaduct because it was so much better than the alternative. Brighton also welcomed early motorists and provided a race track for them on Madeira Drive.

Hastings capitalised on its caves, harbour and history. Bognor made the most of its royal connections. Bexhill built the glorious De la Warr pavilion.

But to remain ahead of the game, resorts have to renew themselves and continue to be bold. Brighton lost the Black Rock swimming pool, as fine an Art Deco building as the Bexhill pavilion, because of unchecked subsidence.

It almost lost the birdcage bandstand on the seafront because too little money was put into maintenance and the eventual restoration cost an enormous sum.

Now the seafront arches, built in the days of the horse and cart, are cracking up under the weight of 30,000 vehicles a day, many of them heavy lorries.

Further east in Kemp Town, the middle terrace of Madeira Drive needs millions of pounds spent on repairs and renovation.

Brighton has made some wise moves over the years. It did not flinch at restoring the Royal Pavilion for £10 million in the 1980s or building the Brighton Centre in 1977 for conferences and entertainment.

Its investment by private enterprise, in the Metropole halls enabled major exhibitions to be held there until Birmingham built its far larger national centre. It pressed for and got a red brick university.

It has fared far better than most other resorts. Hastings, once in the national first five, is in a sad state although there is hope with the impending pier restoration.

Bognor, built in one of Britain’s wealthiest neighbourhoods, is shabby and unloved with a pier looking like a permanent wreck and a desolate main shopping street. Bexhill is equally uninspired, resembling an enormous, poorly run old folks’ home.

This coastal desolation is why The Argus has launched a manifesto to save seafronts all along the coast in Sussex.

The details are being delivered daily but at the vision’s centre is the need for everyone to get together and push for more improvements.

The collaboration between private and public sector leaders to renovate the Lower Esplanade in Brighton 20 years ago was a prime example of what could be achieved.

That same partnership might assist with repairing the damaged arches between the piers and could also help restore the crumbling Madeira Drive Terrace.

Lessons have to be learned from the past. Why is Bognor so dismal while nearby Littlehampton, under the same district and county council control, is vibrant with the amazing East Beach cafe and an attractive waterfront? Could the collaboration that has seen giant steps taken towards reviving Saltdean Lido be applied to other declining buildings like the King Alfred in Hove?

Decisions are needed urgently on where and how the A27 should be improved as the major east-west highway in Sussex while spoiling as little countryside as possible.

The railway from London to Brighton is one of the nation’s busiest but every delay sends the whole system into chaos as has happened far too often this year.

The Willingdon Chord near Polegate needs replacing so that trains can go faster between Brighton and Hastings while the Marshlink line is crying out for electrification and dualling of the track. It is ridiculous that the vital route to Ashford should be served by hourly diesels only two carriages long.

Where there is progress, such as with the building of the i360 in Brighton, the project needs praising rather than carping criticism.

A successful new venture can have an uplifting effect. The i360 should boost run down Preston Street.

It could lead to plans for a new pier and it might encourage Standard Life to invest in extending Churchill Square southwards, providing cash for a new conference centre.

The enterprise and energy of those early visionaries needs to be replicated today so that Sussex seafronts can prosper again.