Why the town must accept change

I remember our delegates' arguments that the south of England was an expensive area in which to live, and we provincial journalists deserved a little more of the cake which was apparently being enjoyed by our print union colleagues.

One management counter-argument which seemed to filter through, however covertly, was that, in addition to the industry's economic factors, we should be prepared to give up something for the privilege of living in such a nice part of the country!

That never went down well, of course, and I suppose that, these days, the nearest thing to it is the threat that someone's council tax could be higher if their home has a nice outlook, or downland walks are bang on the doorstep.

Nationally, there are complaints from many northern workers that they get less than their counterparts in the south, and there are currently disputes on the same lines regarding pay differentials in the south of England.

What is an eye-opener, however, is the latest social and economic profile of West Sussex which gives a sharp idea of who earns what, and where.

While the average gross full-time wage for the south- east is 473 per week, the West Sussex figure is 436.

At a more local level, Worthing's average weekly wage is 388.80, followed by Adur (353) and Arun (345).

Just up the A24, however, lucky people in the Horsham area average an impressive 524.

Some seaside areas are notorious for their numbers of economically disadvantaged residents, and a lack of investment is cited as one of the main reasons.

In Worthing, this is at last being tackled meaningfullly through the Masterplan vision, which, hopefully, will bring benefits to all.

And a more vibrant population is needed in view of the fact that Worthing has the highest proportion of people aged 85-plus throughout the whole of England, while Arun is ranked a close fourth.

Worthing, Adur and east Arun all have a lower proportion of residents aged under 30 than Sussex, the south-east and the UK.

With such an imbalance of population, Worthing must seek to correct this by gearing up its economy to attract the younger element.

This will not be achieved by packing the town centre with schemes such as the McCarthy & Stone plan for the Northbrook College site in Union Place, which would, in turn, place even greater pressure on our overstretched public services.