Arun to compile new strategy for seafront

Arun District Council is to spend 50,000 compiling the use and design principles for an area enjoyed by tens of thousands of residents each year.

But the council lacks the money for either new buildings along the seafront or to pay the ongoing costs of any changes brought in. The preparation of the strategy was approved by Arun's cabinet on Monday.

Cllr Gill Brown, the council's leader, defended the decision to go ahead with the strategy.

She said: "We want to get agreement about what we want to see along the seafront.

"It's all about having a co-ordinated approach rather than one which involves piecemeal things.

"The strategy will also allow us to upgrade the concessions along the seafront in time so that everything matches and looks like it has been done to a plan. When things are replaced at the moment, nothing necessarily matches anything else."

The cabinet's decision means Arun will advertise for consultants to compile the strategy.

The cost of that work is being met by funding from the Local Authority Business Growth Initiative in which the council receives some of the business tax which local companies pay to the government.

Paula Welland, a member of the council's Bognor Regis regeneration team, told the cabinet in a report, the strategy was needed to replace the mish-mash of styles which appeared along the Promenade.

This was shown by the seven different styles of waste bin being used.

She said the area to be covered by the strategy stretched from the Felpham seafront beach huts to West Park in Aldwick. A particular focus would be on the central stretch of Park Road to Gloucester Road in Bognor. It might also stretch inland into the town centre. An initial meeting about the strategy had shown that issues such as geography, safety, access, ownership and integration with the town centre were all important aspects to be considered.

"The seafront needs to be, and perceived to be, a safe, welcoming and attractive place," she stated. Increasing the attractiveness of the seafront and the range of activities that could take place must be done in such a way as to achieve this. Access is a key element to the seafront strategy. It is considered that opportunities to create and improve access for all users, in whatever capacity, is essential," she added.

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