New measures to create "enterprise neighbourhoods" in deprived parts of Sussex were unveiled by Chancellor Gordon Brown in the Budget.

The Government plans to scrap stamp duty on all purchases of business properties in struggling wards across the county to encourage entrepreneurs to move in.

Mr Brown hopes the move will boost investment in run-down housing and provide extra support for small businesses.

It will apply in the Marine, Moulsecoomb and Queen's Park wards in Brighton and Hove.

Also exempt will be transactions in Central St Leonard's, Castle, Gensing, Hollington, Broomgrove, Mount Pleasant, Maze Hill, Ore, Braybrooke and Wishing Tree, in Hastings, and Littlehampton River and Littlehampton Ham in Arun.

They are among 2,000 wards across Britain where business and house purchases up to £150,000 are already exempt from stamp duty.

That change, introduced last November, is designed to encourage people to move into those struggling areas of Sussex.

It slashes £800 off the cost of buying a home worth £80,000, because stamp duty is levied at one per cent on homes worth up to £150,000.

But it has made little difference to the majority of buyers in those wards, because purchases of homes under £60,000 are already exempt.

The Government will also pump £20 million into a new £40 million venture capital fund, to create an entrepreneurial climate in inner cities and run-down council estates.

But campaigners for tougher measures to reclaim run-down areas were disappointed that the Budget did not harmonise VAT on house conversions and new houses.

At present, house modernisation attracts the full 17.5 per cent of VAT, while new houses are zero-rated.

The Empty Homes Agency claims the difference encourages developers to build on greenfield sites, while 750,000 flats and houses lie empty.