Coastal West Sussex
Partnership

Objectives & Priorities

Our Goals

There are many challenges and opportunities facing our coast. The Partnership has agreed that it will focus attention on three strategic goals:

• Learning & Skills: ensuring that the learning & skills offer and infrastructure is developed to support economic regeneration
• Transport & Infrastructure: addressing strategic issues including the A27 and the rail network, and encouraging smarter ways of travelling and communicating
• Employment & Enterprise: creating a positive culture for new employment and enterprise by promoting the area as a place to do business, getting more business premises built, and encouraging business start-ups

What does the Partnership do?

The Partnership exists to support the activities of the partner organisations, to take on roles where collaboration is most appropriate, and directly assist economic regeneration projects and initiatives. To support the vision for the coast, and the goals of the Partnership, we:

• Commission strategic research and evidence
• Co-ordinate strategic programmes and initiatives
• Convene training, events and conferences to inform the strategic direction of the Partnership
• Communicate the vision for the coast, and lobby for intervention and funding

How we operate

The Coastal West Sussex Partnership (CWSP) has a Board that meets four times a year. The role of the CWSP Board is to oversee progress with the vision and goals, provide strategic direction, and promote the work of the Partnership. CWSP is one of three spatial partnerships in West Sussex that are recognised in the Sustainable Community Strategy. CWSP receives its mandate from the Public Service Board which is responsible for overseeing implementation of the Local Area Agreement in West Sussex. CWSP is represented on and provides reports to the countywide Economic, Skills & Enterprise Board.

CWSP will work with other groups and partnerships to achieve the vision and goals for the coast, and we will establish and support new groups, which currently include:

• CWSP Network:
  A group of economic development and regeneration officers working across the coast meet regularly to review the best practice, training and events programme. This group also provides a key link between officers working on projects in the coastal towns and the CWSP Board.
• CWSP Skills Group:
  This group has been established to coordinate and oversee the many projects and initiatives in the pipeline for skills development along the coast. A report produced by DTZ provides the action plan for skills that this group is taking forward.
• CWSP Infrastructure Group :
  The group brings together the key strands of infrastructure (particularly transport), economic development and planning policy along the coast. There is already considerable collaboration between these functions at project, town and district level but this is intended to provide a joined up approach at sub regional level.

 

Photo top : Yachts in Shoreham Harbour