Littlehampton shocked by '˜devastating' plan change

Protesters had previously marched on the town in an effort to preserve Littlehampton's leisure facilities

The alarm was raised by Littlehampton Town Council’s clerk, Peter Herbert on Thursday (February 20).

Mr Herbert said the council’s jubilation that the neighbourhood plan – designed by the townspeople to enshrine Littlehampton’s future – had been given the green light earlier this month to proceed to its next stage, was short-lived.

The plan highlighted the importance that in the event of relocating the Littlehampton Swimming and Sports Centre to elsewhere in the town, the current site of the facility would be preserved for leisure use only.

However, Arun has now changed this clause, instead saying that to enable a new leisure facility being built in the town, the council needed to retain the ‘appropriate flexibility’ on possible uses for the centre’s land.

The town council claims this could now leave the land open to potential housing schemes, something which Littlehampton’s community was firmly against.

For the full story, see this week’s Littlehampton Gazette (Thursday, February 27).