‘Without control of Regis Centre no regeneration can happen’

The district council has previously explored a land swap with Whitbread PLC building a hotel on the former fire station site next to the Town Hall in Clarence Road.

As part of the deal Whitbread would surrender its lease on the nearby Regis Centre, which houses the Alexandra Theatre and Brewers Fayre pub and restaurant, giving the council direct control of the prime site.

Officers explained that negotiations had previously stalled, but have resumed in recent months.

However when the issue was discussed on Wednesday night several councillors criticised the ‘piecemeal approach’ to redevelopment, a lack of purpose around the future of the Regis Centre site and asked questions about why no headway had been made over the last year.

Members of the Bognor Regis regeneration sub-committee agreed to defer making any recommendations until they had received more information about the financial picture.

Lib Dem Francis Oppler, Arun’s deputy leader, defended his administration and attacked the Tories’ record on regeneration in the town.

He said he would take ‘no lectures’ from anybody associated with the previous administration about them ‘dragging their feet’.

Cllr Oppler also pointed out that the ‘winter garden’ regeneration proposals put forward in 2017 would have required £50million funding and taken up to two decades to complete.

He explained that because the Tories had given Whitbread a lease on the Regis Centre in the 1990s they were currently ‘locked out’ of doing anything with the site.

He added: “Unless we can negotiate with Whitbread to get that lease back, nothing will ever happen.

“At some point we have to negotiate and be successful in getting that lease back in control of Arun, then we are more in control of our own destiny.”

A private regeneration scheme for the town advanced by the Sir Richard Hotham project, which has planning permission but has been previously rejected by the council, was mentioned by several speakers.

One of these was Paul English (Con, Felpham East) who said: “It has been sat on and we have not got any real financial information coming forward.”

He also criticised the proposed ‘piecemeal’ approach of redeveloping the site.

Jim Brooks (Ind, Marine) felt redevelopment should be focusing on leisure. He explained: “Selling off a chunk of land before we have had a chance to consider it, I think may be a bad idea.”

Gill Madeley (Con, Felpham West) said: “I do not think the piecemeal approach is the right way to go. I’m as passionate as anyone else to get on with the regeneration of Bognor Regis but it is our prime site and we do need to get it right and explore all the options.”

Meanwhile Tony Dixon (Ind, Aldwick East) added: “We do not seem to have a sense of purpose here. The proposals from the previous administration had a sense of purpose in that we were taking possession [of the Regis Centre] in order to redevelop the site.”

Grant Roberts (Con, Arundel and Walberton) added: “A hotel works as part of a wider scheme that creates a real tourism and visitor destination. All this does is put a hotel next to a car park. The people of Bognor Regis deserve a lot better.”

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