It's hard to imagine now but there was a time when Seaford was a resort many people happily visited for a fortnight by the coast year after year.

If not in the major league with Eastbourne and Torquay, it was certainly competing discreetly for business with Bexhill and Frinton.

Seaford was also one of the biggest centres for private schools in the South. They ringed the town and their grounds gave Seaford a pleasantly spacious and verdant atmosphere which made it a pleasure to visit.

Not any more. The schools and hotels have nearly all gone. In their place are charmless suburbs and tatty town centre development.

I went there at the weekend, admittedly on a wet Sunday, and it was closed.

There was an eerie, defeatist, silence about the place.

I am just about old enough to recall Seaford towards the end of its heyday. One of my many maiden aunts used to go there regularly each summer, stay in a select hotel, paddle in the cold salt water, take tea in prim cafes and generally enjoy herself. It wasn't an exciting place but it had a restrained charm.

Now the seafront looks as if a bomb has hit part of it and the rest could do with another explosion.

Hideously inappropriate flats and houses have been allowed to rise over the last 30 years, including some under the Downs. Yet there are huge ugly gashes which are waiting to be filled.

Millions of pounds have been spent on creating proper sea defences and a full beach to replace the former eroded mess. Yet the prom is a patchwork quilt and there is hardly anywhere to get a decent meal or even a drink.

One famous pub has been converted to a private house and the only building of distinction is the Martello tower, which has been turned into what charitably might be called a quirky museum.

Behind the front is a town centre that would have been considered dated in the Sixties.

There are a few good shops but they are engulfed by a tide of tat. There are many fine buildings including the church and Corsica Hall, which has been downgraded by a particularly ghastly nearby housing estate.

Wandering around the centre, it is like the place time forgot. People go there to die and forget why they ever arrived.

A few bored youngsters hang around causing mild mischief because there is little else for them to do.

Compare it with Dieppe, 65 miles across the water, a town much the same size and yet fizzing with life and vitality.

The atmosphere is deeply depressing and it's small wonder that many people migrate westwards towards the superstores and discount warehouses of nearby Newhaven.

Over the last few years, a lot of dosh has been spent on renovating Newhaven, a genuinely poor harbour town with plenty of potential.

The west side will soon have good housing. On the eastern side there are hopes a permanent ferry all the year round will join the high-speed summer catamaran.

Genuine efforts have been made to bring tourist attractions to the area through Tates and at Newhaven Fort. The town is benefiting from local, national and Euro-wide regeneration schemes.

Seaford is the biggest town in the whole Lewes District. It is much more prosperous than its neighbour, which is perhaps why it has not received the same attention.

Yet it has a real poverty of ambition which is reflected in its current antediluvian state.

I hear no outcry from the solid citizens of Seaford about the state of the place which may mean that, sadly, they like it as it is.

Yet it could be so much better. Flanked by the Head, one of the best bits of downland in Sussex, and the sewage-cleared Channel it should be one of the best small towns in Sussex. Instead it's the last resort.