I kept my word

At the East Beach Residents’ Association and Littlehampton Civic Society meeting at the Millennium Chamber on June 28, to discuss the future of the Windmill Theatre and the swimming pool, I promised the audience that I would ask the town council for an extension to the Neighbourhood Plan, so it went for further consultation past the allotted date of July 17.

I did keep to my promise, and I asked the town council ‘if they would consider extending the consultation period for the Neighbourhood Plan for however long they deem it feasibly possible, taking into consideration any type of planning or lawful constraint’.

The response, unfortunately, is no, due to and I quote the town clerk, ‘that the pre-submission period has been formally logged with the statutory agencies for six weeks and cannot be extended . However, representations could be still be made after that time and might be accepted as we pull together the responses.

‘We have allowed a minimum of eight weeks after the end of this consultation to compile the responses to prepare for the final submission in the autumn. I would think it likely that any responses received before the end of July would be likely to be considered .

‘This is not a formal extension and the decision to accept such comments will rest with the steering group, who will consider any comments and develop the plan over August and early September’.

Ian Buckland, town and county councillor for River ward and Littlehampton Town division

The Blatchen

Littlehampton