The funding Eastbourne has received from the EU – revealed

That is according to new figures released this week, which show a number of programs in our community have benefitted financially from EU cash.

Among the recipients was Sussex Downs College – now part of East Sussex College Group – which received a portion of £1,792,431 funding for 18 projects between 2014 and 2018.

And The Grand Hotel received a slice of around £3.1 million funding for 19 projects between 2014 and 2018.

Half a million pounds of that went into an erasmus project it was a part of called MOBY DICK – short for MOBilitY for Development of International Competences and Knowledge.

Meanwhile Breakaway Agency Ltd, which supports French students with work experience in a number of industries in town, received the biggest portion of funding.

Between 2015 and 2018, the company received a proportion of £7.8 million for various projects.

Also benefitting from EU funding were projects involving Eastbourne Borough FC, the Hydro Hotel, Langham Hotel, and the Lindfield School.

While it is accepted the UK paid more into the EU than it got back in funding, many communities or projects which benefited from EU grants may be wondering what the future holds for them.

The data was revealed on Thursday (January 27) by pressure group MyEU, founded by Hope Thomas and John Lees-Miller.

They said they found the EU had ‘dozens of programmes that funded job creation, rural development, research, the arts and opportunities for young people in the UK’.

The pair said in a statement, “We, and a lot of people spoke to, didn’t know about all this local money being invested by the EU.

“Now we have left, the UK government will have to step up to create new programmes to replace this funding, and they don’t have much time.”

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government said, “The Government is committed to levelling up our regions and creating a UK Shared Prosperity Fund which binds together the whole of the UK, tackling inequality and deprivation in each of our four nations.

“We continue to work closely with interested parties across the UK as we develop this Fund.”

Eastbourne voted 57.3 per cent to Leave in the 2016 EU referendum, with a turnout of 74.7 per cent.

The full list of Eastbourne projects which received funding from the EU is below.

• Breakaway Agency Ltd received a proportion of £7,842,456 for various projects between 2015 and 2018.

• Eastbourne Borough FC received a chunk of £37,486 for an Apprenticeship Enhancement & Exit and Progression Opportunities in 2015

• Henry James Bespoke Tayloring received a portion of £65,919 for Carrement erasmus in 2018

• Hydro Hotel received a proportion of £65,799 in 2014 for a project called Young People on the Move

• It also received a share of £72,936 in 2015 for a European internship adventure abroad

• The Langham Hotel received a share of £86,391 in 2017 for Formation en Réseau Européen Collaboratif pour une Hôtellerie d’Excellence III

• NMR Consultancy Ltd received a portion of £864,558 in 2016 for Real-time Content Analysis and Processing (ReCAP) for Agile Media Production

• Optima Language Programmes received a share of £25,770 in 2018 for Weiterentwicklung des englischen Partnernetzes 2018

• Professional Lighting And Sound Association received some of the £201,453 funding in 2017 for cCLEP! - Certified Competences for Live Events Professionals

• Tension Technology International Limited received a chunk of £3.2 million worth of funding in 2013 for Optimal Design Tools for Ocean Energy Arrays. It received £59,185.

• The Grand Hotel in Eastbourne received a portion of around £3.1 million funding for 19 projects between 2014 and 2018

• The Lindfield School received a proportion of the £42,203 for arts-based project Europa-juchhe! in 2016.

• Between 2016 and 2018, York House Hotel benefited from three projects which added up to £236,376.

• This all adds up to £16,725,523