ZOE BALL and Norman Cook have insisted they will remain great friends following their split.

The couple will live next door but one to each other in Millionaire’s Row, Western Esplanade, Hove, where they own a number of properties.

But just in case relations do get fraught, Heartbeat policeman Nick Berry, who lives in-between them, will be on hand.

The 53-year-old, best known for his role as PC Nick Rowan in the 1960s police soap, has been a neighbour of Zoe and Norman for more than 15 years.

Zoe is said to have moved in with her mother, Julia Peckham, two doors down from Norman, who is taking care of their children, Woody, 15, and Nelly, five.

The couple met in the late 1990s while parting in Ibiza. Fatboy was in his prime with Zoe one of the most sought after radio DJs in the country.

Both were known for their party lifestyles and their 1999 wedding was one of the biggest of the year with VIPs aplenty at the Babbington House, Somerset, bash.

Fatboy, born in Bromley, Kent, moved to Brighton as an 18-year-old to study at what was then Brighton Polytechnic.

Before long he was a regular at the city's clubs and helped develop its dance scene.

When he met, Zoe, originally from Blackpool, there was only one place they were going to live.

They moved to Millionaire’s Row and were regulars on the city's social scene, often seen out in the top restaurants, bars and clubs.

Fatboy reached his musical peak in the early 2000s when he staged a series of free, open-air concerts on Brighton Beach.

The second of which attracted more than 250,000, putting Brighton on the global music map.

The couple were the toast of the city, but their relationship was not without its troubles.

They split for a few months in 2003 after Zoe had an affair with DJ Dan Peppe.

And just last year, she was pictured having a drunken kiss with 22-year-old Tay Tay Starzh of boyband Franklin Lake.

While Fatboy has continued to centre his life in and around the city, Zoe has increasingly been drawn to the bright lights of London.

Fatboy continues to be a shareholder at Albion and can often been found watching the Seagulls at the Amex.

When the club was in crisis back in the early 2000, Fatboy stepped in and his record label sponsored the club's shirt.

He has spoken openly about his battle with alcohol addiction over the years and in 2009 spent time in rehab in Bournemouth.

He went teetotal shortly after, prompting a new fitness obsession.

Nowadays you are more likely to see a lean looking Fatboy running along the seafront than spending his evening in the city's bars.

He championed the inaugural Brighton Marathon in 2010, completing the course in under five hours and has competed in a number of half marathons since.

Yesterday, he was pictured for the first time since announcing the split making his way to the gym.

He has always been on hand to help out his adopted city wherever possible.

Last year, he dipped into his own pocket to pay for a children's playground near his Big Beach Cafe at Hove Lagoon and only last week he was at Brighton Marina for the launch of Snowdogs by the Sea art trail.

He has paid to sponsor a Snowdog of his own, which will be in his cafe

Meanwhile Zoe has been working more and more in the capital in recent years.

From late summer up until Christmas she is in London five nights a week for filming of Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two.

On top of that she has a number of presenting slots on BBC Radio 2.

Their lives appear to have been heading in different directions for a while, but if their statement over the weekend is anything to go by, they remain on good terms.

In it they said they would remain "great friends" describing the split as them having reached "the end of our rainbow."

Despite their differences they have decided to continue to live in Brighton and Hove - a city they have done so much for.

Let's hope that continues now they have separated.

PAIR SHOULD BE APPLAUDED FOR TRYING TO MAKE SEPARATION WORK

Opinion by Ericka Waller, Columnist of the Year

SO NORMAN and Zoe Ball have sadly parted ways, releasing the following laudable statement.

“With great sadness we are announcing we have separated. After many exciting adventures together over the last 18 years we have come to the end of our rainbow. We are still great friends and will continue to support each other and raise our beautiful children together, living next door but one.”

It’s all very modern isn’t it? I kind of feel sorry for celebrity couples. Breaking up is hard enough without having to make it sound amiable in 140 characters on Twitter (and no swear words).

No matter how they chose to part ways or why, their relationship will be dissected and scrutinised by society. Papers are already awash with ‘what really went on’.

Really, they should be applauded for the way they are determined to make ‘conscious uncoupling’ work (a phrase coined by Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin when they separated back in 2014).

Whatever was or was not going on between them as a couple is not as important as what is going on for their kids.

It must be very tempting for them to want to flee to the opposite ends of the country, to get away from one another and the inevitable feeling of failure one experiences when you can no longer make something work.

To decide to live ‘next door but one’ from one-another is admirable – slightly insane, but admirable.

Personally I’d have to have had a couple more houses in-between – a couple of streets even.

Their home-lives will remain largely the same. You’ve got to praise them for this.

In fact, may this adult way of separating become ‘the norm’.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin seem to have found a way to make a break work. She attended his Coldplay gig recently and the two have holidayed together a few times since divorcing.

Norman Cook is widely regarded as a thoroughly decent bloke by all who know him.

Zoe, after a rocky spell, revealed that Norman’s gravestone should read ‘Norman was a very patient man’.

He is going to need that patience to steer himself and his children through this difficult time.