Eastbourne science park could create hundreds of jobs

Eastbourne Borough Council is to set up a project board to look at forging a high-tech industrial centre in the town.

Details have yet to be finalised but it has been suggested the park could be at the regenerated Sovereign Harbour.

The proposals are one of the few positive pieces of news for workers in the county this month after a series of major firms announced plans to lay off staff.

Since the beginning of December it has been announced that as many as 1,000 workers at the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis's site in Horsham could be made redundant, while more than 300 jobs are set to go at GlaxoSmithKline in Crawley and Worthing, 200 at Parker Pen in Newhaven, 180 at COSi in Littlehampton and up to another 130 at South East Water in Haywards Heath.

Hundreds of jobs are also under threat at Brighton and Hove City Council and Hastings Borough Council.

Science parks offer attractive conditions for technology firms to come together and feed off each others' success.

Elsewhere in Sussex there are parks which are responsible for a turnover of tens of millions of pounds a year and provide hundreds of senior research and development posts.

The news that one could be created in Eastbourne was warmly welcomed by business leaders and politicians.

Eastbourne borough councillor Steven Wallis, the council's cabinet member for the economy, said: "It is important that we develop the economy in Eastbourne so that it continues to be a place where people will want to live and work.

"We will benefit greatly if we can retain the graduates who are leaving the town to work in other areas and the availability of good quality jobs would encourage local people to stay on in education."

The borough council has stressed that it is still very early stages and no one knows how large the park could be.

The authority would work to implement the objectives of the regional economic strategy published by the South East Development Agency (Seeda).

It would have strong links to universities and would meet a need outlined in the economic blueprint for the Eastbourne Hailsham Triangle, to provide opportunities for business growth and investment and retain graduates and those with higher level qualifications.

It might be able to accommodate firms involved in the Enterprise Hub Project in Hastings and Eastbourne which will require larger premises in the future.

Some local leaders were positive, while warning that Eastbourne's transport system could need an overhaul.

Nigel Waterson, the MP for Eastbourne, said: "I am delighted to hear about it. It is certainly not a new idea, it is something I remember talking about over ten years ago, but anything we can do to attract high quality jobs and companies to my constituency would be very welcome.

"I think we'd have to do more to improve the local transport infrastructure, particularly the roads, but I am very happy to work closely with the borough council and anyone else to make some progress."

Sean Jarrett, the head of strategy for Sussex Enterprise, said: "It is something that is needed for the East Sussex economy so we would be totally behind that. It needs to be in an area that has got the required transport links."

The University of Sussex runs the Sussex Innovation Centre (SInC), a business incubation hub, at its Falmer campus.

Executive director Mike Herd said SInC was aimed at nurturing new businesses, while a science park can accommodate larger firms.

It might be that the Eastbourne park would be able to accommodate SInC firms once they grew too large for the Falmer campus.

There are currently about 45 businesses on site, with another 30 using SInC as their mailing address.

Firms which started at SInC now generate an estimated annual turnover of £60 million to £70 million. Most have stayed in Sussex.

Mr Herd said it was important that a science park attracts as many firms as possible.

He said: "You have got to have enough activity so the science park itself generates more business."