£100 million plan approved by Minister

Lord Falconer, regeneration Minister, has given his informal go-ahead to the ambitious 100million attack on Bexhill and Rother s transport and economic problems.

And the ground-breaking programme of broadband communication could create the country s first e-city.

The Hastings and Rother Task Force now has three weeks to put the meat on the bones of its far-reaching ideas for the area s regeneration, announced two weeks ago.

A delegation of local politicians, led by Bexhill and Battle MP Greg Barker, were encouraged by the favourable response from Lord Falconer at last Friday s meeting to present their proposals and fight for funding.

The plan has also received a broad spread of approval, even among environmentalists who opposed the original bypass scheme. The new plans will net the area 100million of investment in the next 10 years.

Lord Falconer, who is to visit the area to see exactly what is needed for regeneration, said: This is an impressive start to the long-term process of breathing new life into the Hastings and Rother area.

The five-point plan sets out proposals to tackle the serious problems of social exclusion and economic decline.

Central government is now helping in the development of their ideas. I look forward to hearing further details of the action plan.

A cross-party Task Force announced the innovative project to stem the area s decline two weeks ago.

The plan, drawn up by South East England Development Agency, calls for broadband digital access for every home, school and business in the Bexhill, Rother and Hastings area, a university campus, an enterprise hub to train entrepreneurs and provision of technology support for new businesses, a road building programme and comprehensive package of regeneration measures for housing, jobs and the community.

The Westminster delegation included ESCC leader Peter Jones, Rother District Council leader Graham Gubby and representatives from Hastings Borough Council and the South East England Development Agency.

The Task Force is looking for 15million a year for the next 10 years and hopefully a government team to help put the package together.

A delighted Cllr Gubby said after the meeting: We now have 20 working days to put some meat on the bones of the proposal and present an enhanced version to the government team. We are talking weeks, not months here, with a delivery time of 10 years. By the time a child now at primary school is ready to enter further education, it should all be in place.