East coast resort, Great Yarmouth, has received a £16.3m grant to regenerate its seafront and town centre.

The inte-Great Yarmouth project, estimated to attract an additional 60,000 visitors to the Norfolk resort, is planned to take shape over a four year period and is the subject of what is reported to be one of the largest funding amounts ever granted to a British resort.

Improvements will be made to the esplanade with landscaping, new street furniture and signing and improved paving and lighting; year-round management of the beach will be introduced; buildings will be restored and better links created between the seafront, town centre and heritage attractions.

Council leader, Barry Coleman, called the grant the biggest step forward for the borough in decades. He also expressed the hope that the money could be tripled by private investment.

Head of regeneration services, Jim Dumolo, said that a scheme of such a size obviously had to be phased in and the order of development still had to be determined, but people will certainly notice things have been going on, by the start of the 2004 season.

£8m of the grant is being provided by the East of England Development Agency, £4.7m is coming from European Objective 2 funding, the Heritage Lottery Fund is providing £2m and Norfolk County Council is contributing £1.5m.

One privately funded project already under way is the £5m redevelopment of the Oasis Hotel and Tower on Marine Parade into a casino, restaurant, nightclub and amusement arcade.

Parts of the scheme, masterminded by hotelier Rodney Scott and arcade operator Colin Abbott, are scheduled to open in May this year, with completion of the rest of it due at about the same time next year.

Elsewhere on the sea front, a near-£2m redevelopment of Wellington Pier will see the structure gaining a new facade, with shops, a bistro and bars, the first stage of a total make-over for the whole pier. Details: Great Yarmouth Borough Council +44 (0)1493 846512