Step forward for Brighton terraces regeneration

Brighton & Hove City Council has submitted a bid for £4m to the government to kickstart the £24m regeneration of the city’s Madeira Terraces.The money for the ‘Lockwood Project’ would come from the Coastal Communities Fund, and would be combined with a similar sum from the council for the first phase of a three-stage rebuilding of the historic terraces.Further funding will be sought from grants, lottery funding and private investment.The first phase of the scheme is expected to complete in 2019/20. Other sections would then be developed on a commercial basis, completing by 2023.The entire project is estimated to create 145 new jobs, according to the council’s bid document, adding £5m a year to the local economy.The council said the plan would “introduce innovative commercial and leisure uses to the structure in order to breathe life back into Brighton’s eastern seafront”.Potential mixed uses for the grade II-listed structure include an iconic hotel, youth hostel, arts centre, gallery, catering, boutique retail and start-up space for creative and digital firms.These would form part of a wider planned regeneration of the eastern seafront. In the pipeline are proposals for a new arena and convention centre at Black Rock, a sea swimming centre at Peter Pan’s Playground, £1.85m improvements to the Volk’s Railway and a zip-wire attraction replacing the Brighton Wheel.