Travel on the fast ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe, as I did a few days ago, and you will be hard-pressed to hear a French accent.

That's because the ship is full of English people fleeing their homeland to enjoy the gastronomic and other pleasures of France. The result is a huge boost for the economy of the French port.

All this will stop suddenly at the end of October when the fast ferry stops running for the winter. No wonder the French are not only lobbying for some sort of year-round service but are also interested in buying the whole port of Newhaven from the English owners as a long-term aim.

They will have to invest some public and private cash into the ferry service if it is to be revived as a year-round concern. It was always subsidised when a full service was run for many years after the war and it would have to be now.

Even the lean operation run by Hoverspeed with just one not-very-big ship cannot survive beyond the spring and summer.

The French will probably do it because they are into public service in a way which is largely forgotten over here.

Visit any small town or village the size of Henfield or Steyning and you will find sizeable investment in new precincts, often adorned with startling modern work of arts.

You will search in vain for the English equivalent.

Dieppe itself has a sense of civic pride which is markedly lacking in Seaford and Newhaven across the water which together have about the same number of people.

The authorities there have not been afraid to spend cash on projects which are generally welcomed by local people.

You have only to compare the concrete desert of the town centre in Newhaven with the attractive Grand Rue in Dieppe to get the message.

Comparison could also be made between the fine lawns of Dieppe seafront often used for events such as this week's international kite festival and Seaford seafront which still looks as if it is recovering from small-scale nuclear attack.

Look at the smallest village in France and you will find a sports centre, which is perhaps one reason why France fares so well in football and the Olympics. In England, the youths are often kicking windows rather than footballs.

Go to the city of Rouen, some 40 miles away, and you will find a new Metro and tramway system which, if replicated in Brighton and Hove, would help solve many of the endemic traffic problems.

But there is, at present, simply no way in which the spending necessary could be contemplated either by local or national government.

There are signs of slow improvement here. Previous Labour Governments failed because they started to spend public money before they ensured the prosperity to pay for it. By a series of fortunes, including a good legacy from the previous Tory Government, this Administration has the war-chest to work wonders. It also has vast funds from the National Lottery.

The Single Regeneration Budget has worked well over the last five years. So have the Urban and Interreg funds which include a few joint projects with our friends in France, such as tarting up Trafalgar Street with the aid of a French designer.

Not everything in France is finer. Their driving is often deplorable. They display a prehistoric attitude towards smoking in public and letting dogs mess everywhere. They are in thrall to antediluvian unions in a wholly unhealthy and antiquated way.

But an injection of Gallic flair would be welcome in much of stuffy Sussex. The Normandy authorities should not stop at buying Newhaven Harbour. Let them buy the rest of the town, and Seaford as well.

Then many of us may sunbathe in Seaford rather than rushing for France.