Culture injection for nine more resorts

CABE announces latest round of funding for seaside regeneration projects through its £45 million Sea Change programme, funded by the Department for Culture Media and Sport.

A new maritime and heritage centre in Newbiggin, on the North East coast, is one of nine projects set to receive cash from the latest wave of Sea Change funding.

The nine seaside resorts selected will benefit from the CABE-led programme, which is reinvigorating England’s coastal resorts through investment in culture and heritage. From the northern borders to the south coast, more than £2.6 million will be handed out across four different regions.

A new theatre space in South Shields on the seafront, for instance, will receive £1 million for year round cultural activities, outdoor classrooms and additional space for street performers. Worthing will receive £500,000 to reinstate its Speakers’ Corner and regenerate the eastern end of the seafront.

CABE chief executive Richard Simmons, commenting on behalf of the Sea Change partnership, said he admired the ambition shown by so many projects to get the English seaside holiday back in fashion. "Resorts are determined to recapture the flair they once had. These nine resorts will all be using culture and high-quality design to encourage people to live and work there, as well as to visit.”

A range of smaller grants have been made to fund feasibility studies for major projects. These include: developing a Grade II listed building in Wells, North Norfolk, with the potential for a theatre, new museum and art exhibitions; exploring plans for a centre of creativity in Jaywick in Essex; and looking at creating sites of special protection in Leysdown, Kent, around the area’s unique aviation history (Leysdown was the site for the first British flight).

Sea Change is £45 million programme, being funded by the Department for Culture Media and Sport. So far 28 resorts have benefitted from more than £29 million.