A new economic strategy for Brighton and Hove called Building on Success will be discussed at The Grand hotel tonight.

It has been produced by the Economic Partnership.

Those in charge of the city's economy are remarkably at one over the way ahead for Brighton and Hove.

The city has done well during the last decade and it needs to build on its strengths while addressing a few of its weaknesses.

Large sites in need for development are crucial for future success and many of them need landmark buildings of great distinction.

Other priorities mentioned in Building for Success, the new economic strategy document, include promoting low-cost housing in new ways, making transport work more efficiently through better organisation, getting more finance available for smaller firms and improving training.

Professor Alasdair Smith, vice-chancellor of Sussex University, said: "It is a very encouraging document."

He particularly welcomed the emphasis placed on good infrastructure, which was necessary to achieve economic activity and a good environment.

Prof Smith said the document was positive about the role of universities in boosting the city's financial success.

Graduates had already played a key role in the creation of activities in the new media.

He said: "It has also recognised that the universities are big employers in the city as well."

Nick Dodds, chief executive of Brighton Festival, said the document was a really positive step forward and progress would now be down to getting a few key decisions being made by the right people.

Mr Dodds, who previously worked in Edinburgh, said the Scottish capital was in many ways a sleepy place in the Eighties.

Then important decisions were made on issues such as transport and tourism, which revitalised the city.

Support had to be given to existing cultural activity to ensure it was consolidated.

Mr Dodds said: "I would like to see the possibility of a substantial piece of architecture of real quality on the redeveloped Brighton Centre site."

This could have an effect on the city equivalent to that of the Guggenheim Museum on Bilbao in Spain.

City centre manager Tony Mernagh praised the partnership as being one of the most productive he had worked with.

He said: "The document doesn't pretend to have all the answers but it has a real clarity of purpose."

Now, the city needed to come together to achieve many of the aims outlined.

Mr Mernagh said: "It is important we get on and do them. Time is running out. This is a time of great opportunity and we must not lose it."

Gary Smith, organiser for the GMB trade union, said work skills were a key issue and it was vital to have a trained workforce in the city to ensure development on key sites were completed largely by local people.

Mr Smith said partnerships were needed with organisations such as eb4u (east brighton for you) to ensure training opportunities were taken up.

Roger French, managing director of Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company, said: "It is a well reasoned strategy covering a wide range of economic factors.

"They include affordable housing, making use of sites and premises and improving training and skills."

On transport, he welcomed the emphasis on improving the existing infrastructure.

Mr French said: "The aim should be to make it work better with improved co-ordination and enforcement."

Roger Marlowe, chairman of the Brighton and Hove Hotel Association, said: "I am passionately enthusiastic about it.

"It means you can speak to the people who make the decisions in the city and put forward ideas."

Mr Marlowe acknowledged not all hoteliers' requests, such as for more parking, could be met but progress should be made.

One example of an idea getting attention was when the issue of improving Pool Valley coach station was raised.

Mr Marlowe put forward an idea himself for local traders getting cheap parking rates if they agreed to eschew their white vans for small electric cars.

He said: "None of this would have happened three years ago. My hope is that it becomes part of the development of Brighton and Hove."

One benefit of the partnership was that a tourism development plan for the city was being prepared for the next ten years.