Vision to build on success

It took ten years to turn Brighton and Hove from a seedy seaside resort into a thriving city.

Now writer and broadcaster Simon Fanshawe, who chairs the Brighton and Hove Economic Partnership, says the city is at another turning point.

For all its glitz and glamour, the city has a local economy vulnerable to domestic and global threats and there are still problems ranging from road congestion to pockets of poverty.

The partnership's first economic strategy, called Building On Success, argues strongly that Brighton and Hove should play to its strengths.

It has produced ten key priorities for the years ahead which need support from all the key players in the partnership and many outside.

If they are all achieved, the most noticeable and spectacular of them would be redeveloping the Brighton Centre as a major building of world class architectural quality.

This new centre, which could include the Kingswest site next door, would be for conferences, culture and leisure.

Four of the biggest proposed developments are in the Shoreham area.

The harbour, where there are already plans for leisure and industry, is the biggest brownfield site in the South East.

The old Shoreham cement works at Upper Beeding also has tremendous potential for housing and leisure while at long last progress is being made on the town centre Ropetackle site.

Shoreham airport needs to be redeveloped and expanded as a major employment site and regional airfield.

Priority needs to be given to developing brownfield sites in the city, notably land next to Brighton station where a £150 million scheme gained planning approval this week. It will include a supermarket, homes, shops and the headquarters of a language centre.

Selected greenfield sites on the city fringes should also be used to provide jobs and homes.

The boundary to the new South Downs national park has to be set to protect the countryside and retain key sites within the control of the city.

The strategy says better training is needed in each of the four key jobs sectors - public services, creative industries, business services and tourism.

Access to capital finance must be improved for small and medium-size firms.

A pilot scheme should see if business improvement districts, which attract Government grants, can be set up to bring more jobs and vitality to awkward areas.

Affordable housing must be a key component of business planning, otherwise people will not be able to afford to live in the city.

Better enforcement, co-ordination, organisation and information is needed in the short term to make transport work better. And more radical options must be looked at for the future, including the possibility of a rapid transport system.

The partnership, which has been established for only 18 months and comprises a host of businesses and local authorities, is trying to look at perennial problems in a fresh way.

Mr Fanshawe is fed up with stale arguments about whether the city is pro or anti-car. Instead he wants to see successes such as the buses improved, with new ideas given serious consideration.

Affordable housing has traditionally been looked at as rented homes provided in the public sector by housing associations.

But there is a role for the private sector to play and it is possible some firms or organisations could provide their own homes for key workers. Shared mortgages are also worth exploring for groups of people living together.

Mr Fanshawe is keen to see lively discussion on all these issues.

He said: "The most important thing is to get the best debate and conversation on them."

Already the top 20 organisations in the city have been brought together to discuss the future while arts and tourism organisations have also met.

Training is vital to encourage people to take much-needed jobs in sectors such as hotels and in crafts such as plumbing.

There are thousands of companies, many of them small, in the city. Some are highly creative but they do not always want to expand.

Mr Fanshawe said: "One of the difficulties for the local economy is that we don't have enough companies of national or international significance."

Apart from The Body Shop, it is hard to think of many or any city businesses which have grown big from a small start. Even American Express was well established when it arrived.

Mr Fanshawe sees, in a landlocked city, key brownfield sites as being crucial to success. They include parts of the marina, the King Alfred Leisure Centre in Hove and the West Pier.

While accepting that all these schemes need to be of the highest standard, he says too often negative views in Brighton and Hove are trumpeted more loudly than the positive.

He hopes landmark buildings can be erected and that, in general, the quality of life can be improved.

The city must be kept clean and attractive, with good public services.

So what happens now? The strategy is not intended to sit gathering dust on a shelf. It is a living document that will change as circumstances alter.

It already has backing from most of the major economic players in the city ranging from the city council to hoteliers.

Now more support is needed from others who are responsible for business success such as small businesses and voluntary organisations.

The strategy will also affect future investment by the regional development agency and private capital.

Mr Fanshawe said: "It will seek to stimulate the development of successful businesses in Brighton and Hove.

"It will help to sustain and grow this city's importance as the economic driver of this part of the region as a centre of innovation, a cluster of the imagination and as a damned fine place to live and work."