Leaders of a Government-funded regeneration company spending £47 million to revive east Brighton today said requests for extra millions indicated the project's success.

Some associated with the eb4U team are concerned money intended to be drip-fed into the city's most deprived estates over ten years is running out just half-way through.

An employee has been taken on to identify other funding sources, including the European Union, and apply for further grants. Project leaders are also steering towards projects which will attract matched funding injections from elsewhere.

The issue was raised at a meeting whose minutes read: "The current potential projected spend (the worst-case scenario) indicates that by 2005/2006 we could be approaching our £47 million spend."

It went on to suggest tighter controls and funding fewer or smaller-scale projects: "We need to remain mindful of our funding situation and continue to make harder decisions of what we do and do not fund."

But the team behind eb4U today insisted there was no danger of the original ten-year grant running out.

Sean Hambrook, appointed deputy project director of eb4U in April last year, said: "It would be easy to spend a lot of money very quickly and see no lasting change. What we want to do is precisely the opposite and allocate the funding wisely."

Mr Hambrook said major capital projects including construction of a new youth club and health centre in Whitehawk would go ahead, as would other projects promised cash.

He said: "We've spent about half the money. It's about where we should be."

Mr Hambrook said it was unrealistic to suggest all the area's problems could be solved with the original £47.2 million from the Government.

He said eb4U needed a further £5 million to £6 million to complete all the projects it wanted to see in place in east Brighton at the end of its allotted ten years.

He said: "If we did everything we wanted with the pot available to us, we could spend all the money this year but we are trying to be careful where we target the money and the benefits it's delivering."

The board decided to "refocus" its spending following an audit in the spring.

Friday September 03, 2004