A newly promoted government minister visited Brighton yesterday (Tuesday 5 August).
Penny Mordaunt, the junior minister with responsibility for coastal towns, took a tour of the Saltdean Lido and London Road in Brighton.
She also met former Brighton councillor Maria Caulfield, now the Conservative parliamentary candidate in Lewes, to discuss the regeneration of Newhaven.
The minister met Brighton and Hove City Council chief executive Penny Thompson at the Emporium in London Road with councillors Ian Davey and Geoffrey Bowden.
Along with council economic development officer Rob Dawson and Joe Nichols, from Brighton and Hove Business Forum, they discussed the Portas project.
The scheme, headed by retail guru Mary Portas, is intended to revive traditional shopping streets such as London Road.
The minister, who recently competed on the television programme Splash with the Olympic diver Tom Daley, visited the newly reopened Open Market and the Hisbe ethical supermarket.
In Saltdean the minister’s fellow Tory MP Simon Kirby, who represents Brighton Kemptown, showed her the lido with Rebecca Crook, of the Saltdean Lido Community Interest Company (CIC).
Beforehand, Mr Kirby said: “This visit will be the perfect opportunity to raise the profile of the Saltdean Lido and to tell Penny about the CIC’s exciting plans for the future.”
Penny Mordaunt is a minister at the Department for Communities and Local Government.
