Eastbourne MP visits Chancellor of Exchequer to discuss plans ahead of Spring Budget

Mrs Ansell went to No11 Downing Street to speak to Jeremy Hunt and his Treasury team about plans and projects for the town.

Other items she discussed included Sea Defences. The treasury reiterated the commitment to spend £100m to protect Eastbourne from flooding for the next century.

She also talked about Brownfield first development. The Eastbourne MP discussed her campaign for tax reforms to better incentivise brownfield development, such as the old Debenhams or BT buildings in the town.

The MP is looking for these projects to be put into the government’s £1bn brownfield development fund which has already unlocked 65,000 homes on brownfield sites alongside new powers in the levelling up act to empower councils to develop these sites more easily.

The Eastbourne MP said: “I had a positive meeting with the Chancellor and his team where I could explain that innovative ways to build houses in a town constrained by the sea and downland need to come online and that flood defences are hugely important.

“I also thanked the Chancellor for the extra money he has found for our councils to deal with specific pressures. Myself and my colleagues asked for his assistance and it came. This is good news and shows the government is prepared to listen and act even when there is a huge need to limit government borrowing post-pandemic.”