THE man behind a £100million seafront regeneration scheme has insisted Marine Plaza is still “going to plan” despite work not having started.

Larry Fenttiman, director of Inner London Group, previously said work would begin shortly after Christmas but has now revised the plans to the “first quarter of the year” with hoardings up by April.

Planning permission was granted in 2015 for 282 flats along with shops and restaurants on the landmark seafront site opposite the Kursaal.

Mr Fenttiman said: “Everything is going to plan.

“The plan was always to start in the first quarter of the year and we are ticking all the boxes for that to happen.

“We’re making sure we’re ready for the site and from the architect’s point of view the plans are at an early stage ready for the construction to begin.

“We’ve been in dialogue with our partners, including our affordable housing partners and it’s all coming together with the view of being on the site before the end of April.”

Mr Fenttiman added: “The hoarding will go up first.

“This will be a substantial hoarding with artwork.

“It is going to be a long term project . We have to break up the site and clear so there will be a lot of enabling work going on first.

“Once that is done the proper construction will start and we will start seeing the foundations going in. We’re building a podium across the whole site to provide the staging for the car park and towers will be built on that.

“We’re making sure everything is covered to bring the scheme forward.”

The plans stalled after being hit by the gloomy economic climate in recent years. The company suffered further delays in buying out the owner of one of the homes on the site.

Last year, the company revealed it had at last secured a construction partner to provide a £60million boost and allow the scheme to get off the ground.

The 282 homes across six buildings, will range in height from four to 14 storeys.

The work is likely to take five years to complete.