CLANG, clang, clang went the trolley!

Some of us involved in plans for the regeneration of the area see the day coming when you will be able to take a tram ride from the Palace Pier to Shoreham Beach.

A tramway system encircling the seafront area, with links to main road and rail services, is a key feature of exciting proposals about to be put before the public.

They form a masterplan now being finalised by planning consultant Graham Moss for the far-reaching development of the area from Hove Lagoon to Shoreham Beach.

Progress is painfully slow, but at last the vision of a new harbourside in tune with the third millennium is taking shape.

Given the support of all the authorities concerned, it will take at least ten years to complete.

Brighton and Hove Council, Adur District Council, Shoreham Port Authority and other interested parties who commissioned the Moss study will be asking the new South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) for the necessary funds.

Europe could also come up with more millions.

My own Association of Harbour Communities is one of some 30 groups being consulted on the final report.

Improved transport facilities are essential if the plan is to succeed.

First step will be a drive to secure funds for the construction of a road tunnel running from the A270/A27 Hangleton Link to the seafront. There won't be much change out of £50 million.

There would be parallel improvements in the local road network, including the proposed tram system, and the A259 coast road would be cleaned up and landscaped.

Four trains an hour would run on the coastal service and there would be a railhead in the port.

Land reclamation is needed on the seafront to accommodate "bad neighbours" like junkyards now stretched along the coast road.

The offer of a new and better amenity to replace Southwick Beach has already run into fierce opposition from local residents.

Shoreham Fort is being considered as site for a Marine Interpretation Centre with a footbridge across the river.

Historic access across the canal lock gates will be retained, as will the mudflats with their rich wildlife.

At the Shoreham or western end of the development, Moss proposes a maritime village with studios, boating and leisure facilities, including restaurants and waterside walkways.

To the east, he has mapped out a media village adjoining Hove Lagoon with enterprise centres, film and television workshops.

It may sound like dreamland, but the Moss plan is for real and has been commissioned by all the authorities concerned.

How far it succeeds will depend on the support it gets from the public.

MICHAEL Caine will not be best pleased with the news that Hollywood plans to remake his film classic, Get Carter, made in 1971 at a cost of £1 million.

Budget for the new version is £30 million.

Caine played the part of Jack Carter, a London-based gangster returning home to Newcastle to avenge the murder of his brother.

The Cockney actor supported this new wave or realism in films and put his own money into Get Carter.

The thought of someone like Tom Cruise trying to match his gritty performance in an American setting is laughable.

In the postwar years I reported for American newspapers that Bob Hope had donated a substantial sum to save a social club for poor youngsters at the Elephant and Castle in South London.

Years later it turned out that only girls supported the club's drama class - until they cajoled one Maurice Micklewhite to join.

Apparently he was trying to make it with one of the girls.

Maurice Micklewhite, aka Michael Caine, didn't get the girl, but did get hooked on acting.

NICK Berry will be after my blood for disclosing that his was the biggest individual donation to the fund for the toddlers' paddling pool at Hove Lagoon.

Nick is away filming but he got a rousing cheer when I revealed all at the opening ceremony.

My feeling was that such a good deed in a dark world deserved recognition.

The star of Harbour Lights really is the best of neighbours, modest and unassuming and always ready for a chat over the garden wall, or groyne in our case.

Ipick up the phone and warn Nick every time some eager reporter approaches me with the latest daft rumour about him, which you must admit is a strange role for this old tabloid hack.

LAST month I invited you to tell me your dreams if you felt inspired by the sad tale of Bernard Callaway, fined £170 for speeding across Telscombe Cliffs on a motorbike without a licence. He wanted to "feel the wind in his hair".

I was taken most with a letter from Bob Luckhurst, of Sompting. Bob worked at Caffyns in Haywards Heath, then landed a job as chauffeur to Major John Evan-Cook JP, recently elected Sheriff of the City of London. "The following week I was living in London and driving a Rolls Royce," Bob wrote. He drove in ceremonial processions, visited Buckingham Palace and lunched at the Savoy and Dorchester.He added: "In December 1959 I got married and went back to driving a van in Brighton. I still wonder if it was all a dream." Sounds like a dream come true to me, Bob - my promised bottle of champagne will be delivered personally ere long.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.