Bognor meeting to put public regeneration concerns to rest

The session for residents is set to be held in October by Arun District Council.

It comes amid concerns that the nationwide crisis in the building industry as part of the credit crunch will fatally damage the schemes.

At stake is the 100m regeneration of the Regis Centre and Hothamton sites in the town centre.

Developer St Modwen Properties says it is still committed to the projects '“ which involve an entertainment centre, offices, a possible health centre and hundreds of flats '“ but an exhibition planned for the summer failed to take place. The autumn is the next likely date.

The future of the Bognor Regis northern relief road between the A259 at Flansham and North Bersted is also uncertain.

It had been originally hoped it would be open in 2011. This looks unlikely with at least a year's delay expected.

The road will be funded by the developers of 1,350 homes in the two areas. Planning permissions are being increasingly granted for the housing but construction work has yet to start.

The holding of the special public meeting was revealed by Arun's leader, Cllr Gill Brown. She said the council had written to all the major developers in the town to find out how they viewed the future.

"We will be having an economic review at the September 8 meeting of our Bognor Regis sub-committee when we have got their answers," she stated.

"When we see what that review brings forward, we intend to call a public meeting, hopefully in October, so that everybody will know the answers to what we have found out."

She admitted that she was unaware of any dates for the start or finish of any of the major construction schemes around the town.

She was replying to questions from the chairman and president of Bognor Regis Chamber of Commerce at the Joint Western Arun area committee.

Nick Stuart Nicolson said: "In view of the well- documented economic downturn which affects us all, the inevitable delays in all of our local projects are likely to be considerable."

He specifically asked for the likely start and finishing dates of the St Modwen schemes as well as the start and opening of the relief road and the housing at North Bersted and Felpham.

Two schemes definitely going ahead are the new hotel at Butlins with an opening date a year ago and the new Bognor Regis Community College scheduled to open in September 2010.