Funding boost for seaside towns

Bexhill-on-Sea will receive £1m for seafront improvements

Three seaside towns in the South East are to benefit from government funding to help regenerate the resorts.

Bexhill-on-Sea in East Sussex, Littlehampton in West Sussex and Margate in Kent have been included in the second round of Sea Change grants.

Bexhill-on-Sea will receive £1m and Littlehampton will get £480,800 to for their seafront improvement schemes.

The £30,000 award for Margate is to go towards plans to restore the Scenic Railway destroyed by fire in April.

Thanet District Council will be given the cash to investigate the potential for the country's first Heritage Seaside Amusement Park, which would include the Scenic Railway ride.

Over £4.5m will be handed out to 12 seaside towns in England from the Government's Sea Change programme, which aims to reinvigorate resorts by investment in culture and heritage.

'Catalyst for regeneration'

The schemes accepted for funding were judged to be "innovative and aspirational", and will provide long term benefit to the public. Priority was given to areas with "high deprivation".

Barbara Follett, Culture and Tourism Minister, said: "I hope it will continue to be successful, helping to restore pride in our communities and boost visitor numbers to our much loved coastline."

This is the second round of grants to be awarded in the first year of the three-year government-funded programme, being led by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (Cabe).

In August, the first large grant awards included Dover. The latest funding announced is for the smaller open application grants which can be up to £1 million.

Cabe chief executive Richard Simmons said: "What all the projects share is a desire to use the combination of culture and good design as a catalyst for regeneration."