A £1bn scheme to reinvigorate large swathes of Brighton & Hove is in the running to receive financial support from the council.

The Beeline is a low-carbon transport and infrastructure project that is promising to breathe new life into three council-owned areas of the city – the marina and surrounding areas, the West Pier and the King Alfred Quarter.

Not-for-profit development company Little Ships, who have put it all together in partnership with local architects, want to use the land for 3,000 new homes while solving a number of connectivity issues, which would include creating a bus route and cycle superhighway along the southern perimeter of the city. Also included are a series of tree-lined, cycle-friendly routes running north to south towards the seafront.

Informal discussions with the council have led to a lot of positive feedback and The Beeline is in line to receive funding  via the regeneration budget. The plan also makes provision for the residential blocks to remain under local authority control.

Hugh Dennis of Little Ships said: “The Beeline brings together seafront projects from the “too difficult pile” that have stalled for decades. Our simple solutions solve the viability problem at the King Alfred centre and the connectivity problem at the Marina, our low carbon vision document shows the public and private sector landowners how to bring forward much needed homes exactly where people want to live in Brighton and Hove.

“The housing crisis will not be solved just by cramming oversized blocks of flats onto overpriced brownfield sites and by losing our countryside to fields of houses. Spreading the burden of population growth across our towns and cities with small but many additions of bespoke contextual sustainable homes will provide the public sector with new sources of income that, crucially, can come forward in months, not years or even decades.”

At the east end of the city is the marina and neighbouring gasworks, which will be the location for the majority of the new homes. The plan involves linking the two sites together with a new footbridge and building a stunning new apartment complex, which would stretch out into the sea.

At the West End is the King Alfred quarter, home of the world-famous swimming baths  –  two of which are mothballed and have been hidden away from the public for decades. They would be extended and incorporated into a seafront apartment block. Towards the centre of Brighton is the West Pier area, which would be redeveloped as a mixed-use leisure facility.

Hugh added: “Little Ships is all about good stewardship of land. We’re showing public sector land owners how they can make better use of their enormous property assets, many of which are very under-utilised.”

Little Ships are also in discussions with Bristol City Council regarding a smaller-scale scheme which would involve building 1,000 homes on council-owned land and keeping the properties’ ownership/rent under local authority control.