Hotham vehicle ban '“ 'put padlocks on town'

They said the newly introduced clampdown on vans and cars being driven on to the grass in the restored open space was part of a process of wiping out the town's large events.

Arun District Council has forbidden event organisers from putting any type of vehicle on the grassed areas of the park to avoid damaging the newly installed drainage system.

This will make it difficult for those putting on large-scale community occasions such as the annual country fair.

The town councillors are to raise their concerns with Arun after they have met with the fair's organisers in the Hotham Park Heritage Trust.

Cllr Paul Wells said: "We should just put the padlocks on Bognor. Arun doesn't want us to hold anything in the town.

"It is the case that lots of money was spent in the park for the good of the park and a lot of work was done on the drainage.

"It's nice that we have got a lovely new park '“ the boating lake looks fantastic '“ but it still needs events to go on in there and some new concessions to draw people in.

"What does concern me is that we must not put the park into the archives. It must be used for the future.

"There's a danger we will not be putting anything on here. We need to meet with the heritage trust and see what their concerns are and raise those with Arun.

"A large amount of consultation took place before work started in the park. I don't believe members realised the extent of what the limitations were going to be on what could happen there."

Cllr Pat Dillon said: "We should all go en bloc to the district council in Littlehampton and go into one of their meetings to see what they have got against us. Arun should have taken account of the fact that events are held in the park."

Cllr Stephen Kerrigan said: "How has this happened? I understood this was going to be a public space to hold events."

Cllr Greg Burt said he feared the vehicle ban was part of a bigger picture.

This had been a gradual process which began when the district council stopped funding events.

Then came a ban on more than six public occasions in West Park. There is now an insistence on silent generators along the seafront when funfairs are held there.

"The bigger picture is not only are Arun going to stop funding events but they are not going to let anyone put any on," he stated.

Cllr Jim Brooks said: "Arun are in danger of sanitising the park."

What Arun says

An Arun spokeswoman said a 2.2m restoration project had transformed Hotham Park into a beautiful green haven in the middle of Bognor Regis since work began in October 2007.

"In the past, vehicles have been allowed on the grass, resulting in compaction of the soil which has led to drainage problems," she said.

"Heritage lottery funding has helped to re-landscape the grassed areas of the park and improve the drainage, and it is important that we do what we can to preserve these improvements.

"We appreciate that event organisers need to move equipment around the park and we will provide them with trolleys to help move their equipment across the grass.

"We hope that everyone will understand why we have introduced this rule and will abide by it so that we can keep Hotham Park in the best condition possible."

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