Time running out for jobs

ANGER and dismay has greeted a county council move to delay its decision on providing vital cash for a 25 million Newhaven business park.

At an East Sussex County Council Cabinet Committee meeting on Tuesday members agreed to hold on to money for a port access road until it received real commitment from the key private sector players. The end of October has been set as the deadline.

The council has paid the design costs for a port access road which would be built and financed by the site developer. It has also borrowed 500,000 to compulsorily purchase land for the road from Parker Pen and work in the Ouse Estuary. But the developer and agents for the East Side land hit back accusing the council of fudging the issue and trying to place blame unfairly at their door.

The Bannertown Group of Companies wants to build a business park, with two call centres at its hub, on land owned by the Baker Trust. Up to 1,500 jobs could be created.

Tony Beadle, managing director of Bannertown, said: We have worked tirelessly over the past couple of weeks. We have turned double somersaults to make this work and are ready to go with the plan. The council has got to put its cards on the table. We cannot just sit around to see what happens. I am so disappointed. The people of Newhaven are being treated as third class citizens. Newhaven needs investment, it needs total regeneration.

He added: So many people are waiting for this to happen. We have two major UK call centre operators lined up and this just gives a negative impression to everyone.

We have to strike while the iron is hot. It is wrong for the council to give the impression we are dragging our heels, it is a total fudge.

John Husband, senior partner of Humberts Chartered Surveyors, agents for the Baker Trust, was also angry at the council s decision.

He said: All parties, including East Sussex County Council officers, have worked very hard to put into place a workable formula to reduce the public expenditure, to which the council is already committed to enable the project to continue. This proposal certainly had backing from the private sector and we were led to believe fulfilled all the council s criteria.

It is, in fact, the council s reluctance to commit which still leaves a question mark over the project and renders it very difficult for investors to make progress.

He added: We are confident that the remaining issues can be dealt with in a very short space of time and it should be unnecessary to wait until the end of October for still further council deliberation.

Cllr Daphne Bagshawe, deputy leader of the county council, said: We really want to see regeneration in Newhaven, but we have a duty to get value for the public money

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