A GROWTH Quarter in Newhaven offering space for growing businesses and a new community hub has been completed.

Improvements have also been made to the interior of Sussex Downs College campus, there are extra childcare places at Denton Island Community Centre and a new “community kitchen” has been created through the £2.5m project.

Councillor Andy Smith, Leader of Lewes District Council, said: “The completion of the Newhaven Growth Quarter is just one step in our ambitions as a Council to regenerate Newhaven. We want to firmly re-establish the town as a place to live, work and do business and Newhaven is very much open for business.

"If you are a new or growing business in need of business space then Basepoint will manage the renting of a unit to you at the newly extended Enterprise Centre, which now has a total of 60 units. The project has cost £2.5 million and much of this has been funded by the Government though the Coastal Communities Fund. This has also been supplemented by contributions from Lewes District Council and East Sussex County Council.”

Following the successful bid to the Coastal Communities Fund in 2013, Lewes District Council has worked with its partners including Basepoint, Sussex Community Development Association, Sussex Downs College, East Sussex County Council and contractor Morgan Sindall to deliver this ambitious project.

The Growth Quarter project is one of a number of recent or imminent investments in the town, such as the completion of the University Technical College, the designation of the Enterprise Zone which will start in 2017, the £18m investment in flood defences from the Environment Agency and the establishment of a Coastal Community Team led by Newhaven Town Council.