Senior councillors are due to give their formal backing to a £20 million project to boost Whitehawk area at a meeting next week.
Brighton and Hove City Council’s cabinet is due to agree the terms of a 10-year deal worth £2 million a year at a meeting on Thursday (19 March).
The project is part of the government’s Pride in Place programme aimed at reviving and regenerating some of the more deprived parts of the country.
The areas to be covered by the project include Whitehawk, Manor Farm, Craven Vale, the Bristol Estate and the Pankhurst estate.
Labour councillor Gill Williams, who represents Whitehawk and Marina ward, encouraged people in the area to get involved when she spoke at a housing management panel on Wednesday (11 March).
The council is looking for someone to chair a proposed neighbourhood board, which would be expected to set local priorities, and for others to serve alongside the successful candidate
The neighbourhood board would be responsible for developing a 10-year regeneration plan, with the council responsible for ensuring that the £20 million is spent and accounted for properly.
The funding will come from a government department, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Councillor Williams said: “It allows communities to spend the money on the projects that matter to them.
“It’s community-led because we’re going to have a board of local people, with residents doing the decision-making and able to have their say on the future of our neighbourhood.
“It’s empowering people, essentially, to build the skills and confidence they need as well as to deliver change.”
Pride in Place in Whitehawk can use the money to improve open spaces and community facilities, strengthen services and for the long-term benefit of the community.
The deadline to apply to be chair of the neighbourhood board – and a champion for Whitehawk – is on Sunday (15 March).
The board is expected to include the ward councillors – Gill Williams and her Labour colleague David McGregor and the Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven, Chris Ward.
At least 51 per cent of the board’s members should be people living in the area.
The council’s cabinet is due to discuss the project in a meeting at Hove Town Hall at 2pm on Thursday (19 March). The meeting is scheduled to be webcast.
To apply to become chair, send a two-page CV and a covering letter of up to three pages, with details of motivation and links to Whitehawk, to prideinplace@brighton-hove.gov.uk by midnight on Sunday 15 March.
