DOZY'S RAMBLES: '˜Hands off our green'

Last week I commented on the proposal for the toilet block on the green on Shoreham Beach.
Mike MendozaMike Mendoza
Mike Mendoza

I am delighted that a meeting was arranged by the Shoreham Beach Residents’ Association with over 200 turning up to voice their opinions.

The message was loud and clear – ‘Hands off our green!’

There was support for a café and restaurant, providing it enhances the area and does not have a fairground theme.

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An excellent point was made that Carats Cafe Bar in the harbour, the Sea Lane Café in Goring and the Perch on Lancing Beach, all situated on beaches, managed to pull in customers without any side attractions, they are all very busy all year round regardless of the weather outside!

There is a call for the council to be open and transparent about the way in which the preferred developers were chosen.

There is also a call to ask the council whether local councillors were consulted on the matter, or was this an officer decision?

Why was the developer chosen, who, despite knowing it was a toilet block on offer put in plans to develop and use the entire green?

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Did any of the other applicants put in plans that included anything other than the toilet block?

At the time of writing, I am waiting for answers.

In light of Adur District Council and West Sussex County Council having to increase council tax this year and at the same time cut many services to save costs, why did councillors vote recently to give themselves a rise in their allowances, when so many in the district are going to have to suffer cutbacks?

Surely the time to take the increase would have been a couple of years ago when the administration actually made a reduction of one per cent to council tax payers and also set a zero tax increase for several years prior to that.

With an election looming, maybe this was not the brightest idea.

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Before councillors jump up and down and say it was an outside body that suggested the increase, councillors have the option to accept or reject the proposals, which they have done several times in the past.

I was very sad to hear of yet another Conservative councillor being unceremoniously de-selected from his seat by the local party.

Long-serving councillor Keith Dollemore represented the Manor Ward in Lancing and, until his resignation, he was the executive (cabinet) member for Environment.

His ‘de-selection’ follows on from another long-serving councillor for St Mary’s Ward, Rod Hotton, being dumped.

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It appears that the way forward for the Conservative party dealing with Adur District Council is to appoint ‘younger’ people to fight the upcoming elections.

Several other high profile councillors are expected not to stand in the upcoming elections in May.

The question is can a younger person manage the hours that are needed to be put in to be an effective councillor?

Over the years it’s been proven that stress can be put on a young person’s relationship, especially when children are at home, plus putting in the hours for a full-time job can’t be easy.

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From April 6, all dogs aged eight weeks and over will have to be micro chipped with full ownership details, or owners will face a fine of £500.

In an effort to help dog owners in the Adur and Worthing district prepare for these new laws, the council’s dog warden team have commissioned a poster campaign, to be rolled out across the district in the next few weeks.

The government hope this new law will bring down the nationwide figure of over 100,000 dogs being dumped or lost each year, at a cost of £57million to the taxpayer and welfare charities.

It is also hoped that this change in the law will help reunite owners with lost or stolen pets and relieve some of the burden on local animal charities.

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This is an important piece of legislation – of course there is a small cost attached to chipping by private vets, but many local animal charities across Adur and Worthing are offering to chip for free, such as the Dogs Trust here in Shoreham.

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