Littlehampton Town Team defends itself from out-of-town store

LITTLEHAMPTON town centre is set to benefit from £100,000 of funding to protect it from the impact of the proposed Morrisons supermarket at Wick.

The money will go towards initiatives suggested by the “Town Team” which unsuccessfully applied for a similar sum from the Government’s Portas Towns scheme earlier this year.

Efforts to fill empty shops, improved signs and the creation of a diary of events and markets in the town centre are among the ideas.

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Having failed in the first round of the Portas Towns bidding – named after retail guru Mary Portas, who carried out a review of Britain’s ailing town centres for the Government – Littlehampton automatically qualified for a second round in which a further 15 pilot schemes will be given funding.

However, with more than 350 towns vying for the cash, the odds remain long.

Arun District Council’s Littlehampton regeneration sub-committee will be told this week that allocating the £100,000 to the Town Team, made up of traders’ representatives with input from Arun and the town council, would be one of the best ways of spending the £175,000 Morrisons has to contribute to the town as a result of a condition imposed on the planning permission given to its new store last year.

Once the funding has been agreed, the Town Team, with support from the town council, will draw up business cases for each proposal, to be considered by the regeneration sub-committee vice-chairman and chairman, ward councillors and Arun’s senior economic development officer, before final approval by the relevant Arun cabinet member.

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