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Thanks Roger and Pat.
I agree Ed, the joining of the town to the sea front is the ultimate goal here.
I have always felt that the rest of the site could wait for other investment if a suitable catalyst was provided, i.e. a new link to the sea front.
This whole 'lanes' idea is lovely but I have seen no scheme providing a suitable construct for this to date. You can't make street feel like the Brighton lanes by using big buildings and it is no use making small retail units if they are not all filled. I believe the trick is to provide the infrastructure for the area to evolve, after all this how areas like the Brighton lanes have come about.
Town planners have become too obsessed with making everything fit for purpose and as a result things have to be demolished when something does not work. The beauty of Victorian and especially Georgian properties is their agility to provide different types of space. Their proportions (and construction) allow them to become houses, flats, offices, B&Bs, bars, dentists. It is this diversity that gives character and why people like places like Deal, Whitstable and streets like Castle Street. They work at a human level and have evolved, they are the antithesis of the 'built for purpose' shopping centres, that turn shopping into a hobby or horror, rather than the basic essential pleasure it can be.
By no means am I saying build twee little Victorian replicas with Upvc sash windows, but at least build a development with capacity to evolve. I hope the new schemes will do this.