A Grand vision for Bexhill's future

The decaying Grand in Sea Road has been ear-marked as one of the redundant buildings in Bexhill and Hastings which could be revitalised as a result of the Government's 125m cash injection for the two the towns.

The 52 bedroom Grand should be celebrating its centenary year. When Earl De La Warr performed the topping-out ceremony on the roof of the then Granville in April 1902, the new hotel was seen as a symbol of the thriving new seaside resort of Bexhill.

But the Grand closed its doors shortly before Christmas 2000. Owner Derek Smith says it would cost 1.5m to restore the Grand and it is no longer viable as a hotel.

He wants to demolish the hotel and build luxury flats in the 150,000-225,000 price range. But, acting independently, Old Town Preservation Society obtained Grade Two Listing for the Edwardian building last October.

Now the regeneration cash brokered by the South East England Development Agency, working in conjunction with Rother and Hastings councils and the county council has a chance to break the log-jam.

Rother leader Cllr Graham Gubby says the Grand is the sort of situation to which Government cash could be applied.

He believes it is important to secure buildings and brown-field sites quickly before speculative developers move in.

To what use could the Grand be put?

"There are a number of purposes. Firstly, the owner is entitled to recoup his money. He is not operating a charity. We need to help him but it is possible to do a joint finance scheme.

"A resource centre for the town is one possibility. We could have an extension of the planned new university in Hastings. We could have a local study centre, a resource for local people linked in with the university.

"Why couldn't we have a mixed use with high-quality retail outlets on the ground floor with good quality flats above?

"The old facade could be refurbished but retained."

The Rother leader believes the key to regeneration is still improvement of the transport infrastructure.

"Rail improvements and the rest are vital but the truth remains that you will not persuade people to get out of their cars. They want to get into their cars and drive where they want when they want.

"You cannot bring about regeneration without increasing traffic.

"The road structure needs sorting out."

He believes new car parks are needed in order to encourage shoppers into the town, with provision for the disabled to park nearer the shops.

"The public have to understand that if we are going to increase the value of this area it is recognised that education is the single biggest and quickest way to do that.

"Anyone who has a student son or daughter knows that when it comes to clothes, books and food they spend money! If they get high quality degrees in the right subjects and this is a high-quality area with plenty of attractions for them then there is a good chance they will stay and contribute their skills."