St Leonards given Lottery facelift boost

The Heritage Lottery Fund has announced it is awarding the borough council 850,000 to help pay for the restoration of prominent historic buildings.

And councillors vowed this week that the cash boost would fund upgrading work on some of the areas most notorious eyesore buildings.

Among the sites likely to benefit from repair and restoration are shopfronts in London Road and Kings Road, Marine Court, on the seafront, and the crumbling London Road Congregational Church.

John Humphries, Central St Leonards ward councillor and portfolio holder for neighbourhood renewal, said: "We won the funding in competition with other councils across the country and this is the only award of its kind in the South-East.

"The money will help to repair and restore seafront buildings together with shopfronts along Kings Road and London Road. We will also be able to repair and reuse the Congregational Church and restore some of the shopfronts and the canopy of Marine Court.

"It is absolutely great news for the town."

Previous notable successes of the Central St Leonards Townscape Heritage Initiative include the restoration of Kings Road shopfronts, Christ Church Old School, the former Regent Court Hotel and the Royal Victoria Hotel.

The Heritage Lottery Fund also provided significant funding for the regeneration of Alexandra Park and for improvements and extension at Hastings Museum and Art Gallery.

Council leader Jeremy Birch added: "This follows the success, over a number of years, of the borough council's conservation activities the and provision of grants to owners restoring businesses to their original appearance.

"This will fit in very well with all the other regeneration activity happening in the area."