Get a grip, Arun

Obviously I must have been taught incorrectly when at school, as it seems that the Arun District Council officers decide policies and the councillors have to just sit there and meekly agree to their schemes.

The last straw, prompting this letter, was the report (Gazette, October 31) that the provision of a cinema in St Martin’s car park was not up for consideration. Congratulations to Dr James Walsh for spotting this attempt at denying Littlehampton the chance of a new cinema.

Maybe Arun’s officers have decided to spend the necessary funds in upgrading the loved Windmill building so it could be used as a cinema and a theatre and if this is the case, why are they not saying so?

I note that yet another firm of consultants has been employed at, no doubt, great expense, to tell us what we already know. Quite frankly, the amount of money spent on consultants from outside this area over the past few years would probably have financed the necessary refurbishment of the Windmill.

When will the Arun officers accept the fact that the local population are the best judge of what they want for their town? Believe it or not, that is why we elect councillors to represent our views, so I hope we can look forward to the elected councillors exerting their authority over their paid employees, who are supposed to carry out the decisions of the elected councillors. Arun needs to take a leaf out of the town council’s book for the way it fights for the town’s interests.

Tyndall Jones

High Street

Littlehampton