Fury as Arun Council opts to reject town plan

Former housing offices in Church Street, vacated by Arun a year ago when staff moved into the refurbished Civic Centre, are now wanted by the town council for redevelopment as a community centre linked to its Manor House headquarters.

Last month, Arun’s cabinet rejected offers for the site made by the town council in letters dated October 14 and November 1, and instead agreed to spend £8,500 appointing architects to look into the “most advantageous” option for developing the site for housing.

The cabinet decision was challenged by five Arun councillors from Littlehampton, three of them former mayors, last Wednesday.

But their “call in” attempt to have the decision overturned ended in failure amid angry scenes at a special meeting of Arun’s overview select committee.

Brookfield ward councillor Joyce Bowyer, last year’s town mayor, stormed out after the select committee turned down the bid to have the decision reviewed by the cabinet or considered by the full council.

Two other former Littlehampton mayors, Dr James Walsh and Mike Northeast, described the meeting as “a farce” and claimed the challenge had not been considered properly by the committee.

The call in by the five Littlehampton councillors, who are also town councillors but were acting in their role as Arun members, was made on the grounds the cabinet decision was:

- likely to cause harm and significant concern to the local community of Littlehampton;

- contrary to the view of a key partner of Arun’s Community Strategy “Our Kind of Place”, namely Littlehampton Town Council;

- “lacking”, because the five Littlehampton members had not been consulted over the cabinet’s decision and their views had not been taken into account, as the matter was discussed in private session by the cabinet.

The Littlehampton councillors, from all three main political parties, also claimed the cabinet had not considered Arun’s wider vision and priorities, set out in its community strategy and priorities for 2009-13, when making the decision.

Mrs Bowyer told the committee the two councils had spent at least two years working on the possible transfer of the former housing offices to the town council.

“The town council’s intention is to either demolish or radically refurbish this building to provide a community centre and offices which would be in keeping with the high-quality listed building that is the Manor House.

“This was intrinsically linked to the need to lift the whole area through the loss of the dreadful housing building and the deteriorating town council dairy site across the road.”

Mrs Bowyer said her biggest concern was money had been the only factor for Arun in the process, when other key issues, including the district’s huge infrastructure deficit, the lack of community facilities and the sustained regeneration of Littlehampton, should have been considered.

“I understand the town council were/are prepared to invest heavily in this scheme. A figure of £1.5m has been identified.

“This would not only significantly upgrade the quality of the town-centre buildings, but deliver high-quality community facilities, including weddings and receptions and also conferences, both important gaps in local provision.”