Arun council leader dismisses calls for him to resign

Both Francis Oppler and James Walsh firmly dismissed the suggestion from Conservative leader Shaun Gunner that they should ‘stand aside and make way for an administration that can deliver for the people and businesses of Arun’.

Mr Gunner spoke out during a meeting of the full council on Wednesday (September 16) after accusing the Liberal Democrats of breaking a string of election promises.

The accusations, which had all been made before, centred around pledges to revamp the tourist information office at the Littlehampton Look & Sea Centre, to refurbish Bognor’s sunken gardens, and to enhance the town’s heritage assets such as the Arcade.

This on top of pledges to increase spending on day activities for the elderly, to transfer ownership of Bognor’s town hall to the town council and to deliver on the long-awaited regeneration of the seaside town.

Accusing the Liberal Democrats of being responsible for ‘more broken promises than Nick Clegg’, he added: “Ultimately, this administration is achieving little, with a leadership arguing amongst themselves and offering no direction, no vision and no leadership to this council, to officers and to the public.

“It is no wonder that the public, the council and even many Liberal Democrats – and I wonder of that includes members of this council – are losing confidence in this administration.”

Dr Walsh denied claims that he and Mr Oppler were ‘at each other’s throats’ and called Mr Gunner’s words ‘quite extraordinary’.

He added: “I certainly have no intention of standing aside to allow a Conservative administration that’s spent years and years and years and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of pounds on abortive and wasted regeneration projects for Bognor Regis.

“To pretend that they can suddenly wave a magic wand and make everything right with a change of administration is just an attempt to hoodwink the public.

“It’s nonsense and the public know it.”

After launching into a highly critical attack on the government, specifically the problems with the Covid-19 test and trace system, Dr Walsh addressed some of the accusations about broken promises.

He told the meeting that Bognor town hall could not be gifted to the town council but could be sold – and no offer had been made.

He added that plans for both the sunken gardens and Place St Maur were being worked on by officers and would be put to the council shortly.

Reminding Cllr Gunner that the pandemic had been top priority for the past six months, Dr Walsh accused the Conservatives of attempting to ‘sow discontent’.

Mr Oppler agreed, adding: “May I remind [Cllr Gunner] that this administration has been in power for a little over 15 or 16 months, compared with 45 years of utter inaction and in-fighting and squabbling of the Conservative administrations that have preceded us.

“Whilst I appreciate that Cllr Gunner is learning on the job, I really think that you need to shape up if you’re going to carry out this role in future.”

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