BREAKING NEWS: Top Arun councillors face call to resign over ‘spectacular failure’ of local plan
An open letter signed by 159 residents urges Arun District Council leader Gill Brown and cabinet member for planning and infrastructure Ricky Bower to step down.
The letter follows the likely suspension of the local plan for up to 18 months – a lengthy delay required for further work on updated housing figures.
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Hide AdThe letter reads: “We are concerned that Arun District Council is failing to provide an acceptable level of service when it comes to strategic planning and that it also lacks the leadership capability necessary to secure improvements.”
The local plan sets out the district’s vision for housing and employment until 2031.
It must set the number of homes which should be built each year - a figure known as ‘objectively assessed needs’ (OAN).
Arun changed its figure from 580 homes per year to 641 in June, after new data emerged.
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Hide AdBut following a lost planning appeal and further studies, the most up-to-date figure was actually indicated to be 758 homes per year.
It wanted to suspend the plan for six months, to prepare further work on the 641 figure.
Critics of the plan, meanwhile, told the inspector at a procedural meeting in July that the plan could not be legally sound if Arun has not fully investigated whether it can meet the higher figure.
The inspector recommended a suspension of 18 months, advising the council to prepare a plan based on the 758 homes target.
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Hide AdThe local plan sub-committee agreed to recommend the suspension to full council at a meeting on Thursday.
In response, Mr Bower said the letter had overstated the cost of the local plan – a bill of £1.5million, not £2.7million as claimed.
He said: “I’m not going to respond with a knee-jerk reaction to this letter. I like things to be seen through and I am going to see it through.”
Mr Bower said the inspector had not found the plan ‘unsound’ but ‘basically incomplete’, while officers and members were still digesting the ramifications of his recommendations.
The open letter in full:
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Hide Ad“We are concerned that Arun District Council is failing to provide an acceptable level of service when it comes to strategic planning and that it also lacks the leadership capability necessary to secure improvements.
The council has been “invited” by the inspector to suspend the local plan for a period of 12-18 months in order to bring forward modifications. This constitutes the spectacular failure of a plan, over nine years in the making, and still a long way from completion. This is on top of the recent failure of the St Modwen proposals for Bognor Regis.
It has been estimated that something in the region of £2.7 million may have been spent (wasted?) so far on these two failed projects. This is unacceptable.
Through its actions and continual delays, the council has created circumstances in which every community in the district is now vulnerable to planning by appeal.
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Hide AdIt is time for those responsible to be held to account for their part in this failure of strategic planning.
We call on cllr Mrs Brown, The leader of the council and cabinet member for council strategy and cllr Bower, cabinet member for planning and infrastructure, both of whom have held their respective offices for over nine years, to resign with immediate effect, in order to allow new leaders to come forward and initiate a fresh start for the district.”
Yours sincerely,
Val Allison
Alan Allison
Jon Alward
Jessica Arnold
Nicky Baker
Dougie Baker
Laurie Barnes
Alison Barnham
Sylvia Belcher
Vanessa Bentley
Dominic Bentley
Jeff Berman
Natalie Blissett
Helen Bowles
Eileen Bradbury
Jess Brown
Darrel Burch
Danii Campbell
Helen Cann
Jon Cann
Jason Castle
Ashleigh Charmaine
Robert Clark
Olive Clark
Peter Coleman
Sue Coleman
Lisa Collier
Martin Connelly
Dorothy Constant
Peter Constant
Jo Corell
Gerald Cork
Hugh Coster
Anthony Cross
Jim Darley
Brian Davey
Danny Dawes
Sharon Demers
Laura Denby
Tony Dixon
Alane Dixon
Catherine Dummer
Terry Ellis
Sarah Evans
Dez Farley
Gary Fisk
Lily Fraser
Carol Freeth
Caroline Gibbons
David Gould
Tracey Grattan
Wendy Green
Linda Guy
Audrey Hall
Deborah Hallford
Mary Harvey
Mike Harvey
Mary Herting
Kerry Hills
Simon Home
Danni Hooper
Lee Hooper
J Hopgood
Jacqueline Howard
Denise Jays
Helen Johnson
Dominic Jones
Melanie Jones
Adele Jones
Brigitte Jones
Mike Jupp
Trisha Keegan
Ben Keen
Peter Keen
Chris Kelly
Ren Kitchener
Graham Knight
Jess Knowles
James Lambert
David Lancaster
Lynn Laundon
Tracey Light
Sue Ludlam
Lesley Marsh
Alvin Martinez
Wendy Matthey
Bobbi McBride
Robin McDonald
Jamie Middleton
Helen Miles
Melanie Miller
Simon Mitchell
Tessa Moger
Joanne Moon
Helen Moore
Julie Muir
Ben Mulrooney
Jenny Murphy
Kevin Murphy
Luke Nash
Jon New
Steve Nicholas
Bradley Nicholas
Rose OBrien
Nicola Page
Ian Pears
Danielle Pearson
Lesley Pedwell
David Pedwell
Ian Pedwell
John Penfold
Heather Penfold
Mandy Phillips
Zoe Prior
Mike Purdue
Ann Rapnik
Kerry Redman
Lorraine Ritchie
Gabriella Robinson
Charlotte Robinson
Rita Rogers-Davis
Neil Rogers-Davis
Tracey Salford
Kaye Sawyer
David Sawyer
Sue Sayer
Nicole Scott-Cannon
Jane Searle
Tracey Simpkins
Simone Sinclair
Christopher Sinclair
Margaret Smart
Fred Smart
Nigel Smith
Catherine Southern
Brian Sullivan
Liz Sullivan
Tony Sutcliffe
Elizabeth Swain
Annmarie Taylor
Eileen Taylor
John Taylor
Ken Teasdale
Roger Thomas
Troy Turner
Rosie-Mae Turner-Hughes
Caroline Varatharasan
Alec Wallsgrove
Sue Wallsgrove
Emma West
Suzie Wheller
Susan White
Katie Wilbraham
Richard Wilkins
Janet Wilkins
Maryann Williams
Sarah Williams
Shelley Wingate
Mervyn Woodruff
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