Official complaint to be submitted to Arun over 2–4 Waterloo Square

At its planning and licensing committee meeting on Tuesday, councillors agreed to write a letter to Arun which expressed how ‘bitterly disappointed’ they were at Arun’s handling of the historic site.

Councillors also wrote to James Brokenshire MP, the secretary of state for housing, about the issue.

The committee received a letter in response from Jake Berry MP on behalf of Mr Brokenshire.

Mr Berry said he was unable to comment on individual cases due to the role of ministers in the planning system but said: “The government is committed to the protection of the historic environment, and we have put in place a strong legislative and policy framework to achieve this.”

Later in the letter, councillors were told they would have to submit a formal complaint to Arun District Council before they would be able to contact the Ombudsman.

It said: “The Ombudsman provides an independent means of redress to individuals for injustice caused by unfair treatment or severe failure by local authorities.”

Council officers gave an order for the demolition of the site in January this year and developer B5 Ltd cited the poor and unsafe condition of the building for it to be knocked down.

Councillor Jeannette Warr said: “We kept asking and asking that they would not proceed [with the demolition order] until we had ironed out all the different aspects.

“I wrote a letter to Nigel Lynn [ADC chief executive] and really got no response.”

Councillors Steve Goodheart (Ind), Jeannette Warr (Lib Dem), and Phil Woodall (Con) all voted in favour of submitting the formal complaint while councillors Pat Dillon (Con) and Sandra Daniells (Ind aligned Con) abstained citing a conflict of interest as they both also sit as district councillors