Arun councillors have called on the NHS to answer questions about healthcare facilities in Littlehampton after voting to keep two projects on the council’s infrastructure investment plan.

The proposed Primary Care Centre in Littlehampton and an extension to Littlehampton Health Centre had been removed from the plan at the request of NHS Estates.

But councillors voted to keep both projects on the plan’s Baseline Longlist, subject to a further review.

The Arun Infrastructure Investment Plan for 2026 to 2029 was approved at Arun District Council’s full council meeting on Wednesday, November 11.

Councillor Dr James Walsh said he had been involved in health matters in Littlehampton for nearly 50 years.

He said: “It’s been a sorry tale of prevarication, obfuscation, deliberate delay, and getting out of any moral responsibilities to the residents of East Arun, not just Littlehampton.”

He added: “It is time that the NHS lived up to its responsibilities. It is our health service. We are taxpayers. We fund it, and this part of the country, East Arun has been slowly deprived of health service facilities over the last 25 years.”

Councillor Ricky Bower said he had previously raised the issue at the council’s Planning Policy Committee and argued that the council should not agree to the NHS’s request to remove the projects.

He said: “There is a question of principle established here.”

“We will not be dictated to by the NHS. We, in fact, need to call them to account.”

He called for NHS representatives to attend a council meeting to answer questions about local healthcare.

Councillor Trevor Bence also raised concerns, saying the council had previously offered several million pounds towards opening a GP surgery at Wick.

He said: “Any move that this council can take to make sure that NHS wake up and stop this attack on things they decide without any discussion with us and any consideration for the public should be called out.”

Councillor Mike Northeast said: “I know for a fact, there’s people in my ward now that have moved into the ward, and they’ve had to go to Worthing to get on a GP list, which is not right in this day and age.”

He added that residents should not have to travel around 10 miles for day surgery when it could be provided locally.

Council leader Martin Lury said he had written to the NHS but had not yet received a reply, and suggested inviting NHS representatives to a full council meeting to discuss the concerns.

The two projects will remain on the plan’s Baseline Longlist and are due to be reviewed again between January and March 2027.

NHS Surrey and Sussex Integrated Care Board has been approached for comment.