Status quo for Littlehampton’s Town Show

THE long-running saga over the future of Littlehampton’s Town Show and Family Fun Day has ended with a unanimous vote not to change the event.

An estimated 3,000 people signed a petition calling for the horticultural show and fun day, held together for the past 10 years, to continue, side-by-side.

Last Thursday night (September 27), town councillors heard their plea, overturning a vote taken in June to split the popular event, with the Town Show at the new Southfields Jubilee Centre in September and the fun day moved into August.

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Labour, Liberal Democrat and independent councillors and supporters, joined by members of the Town Show committee, led the campaign to reverse the decision of the Conservative-controlled town council.

But with Tory opinions shifting at a committee meeting two weeks ago, when a clear majority recommended no change to the event, Thursday’s full council turned out to be little more than a rubber-stamping exercise.

Three Conservatives who spoke in favour of changing the combined event at the community resources committee meeting, June Caffyn, Derek Hulmes and Roy Scrivener, were absent – the latter having quit as a town councillor in the meantime.

Alan Gammon, the community resources chairman, who resigned as the Conservative group leader two weeks ago, also missed the meeting, along with his party colleague David Britton, who was away, working.

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When the full council vote was taken on the committee’s recommendation, Conservatives Jill Long, Carol Emberson, Simon Weston and Joyce Bowyer joined Labour’s Mike Northeast and Tony Squires, Liberal Democrat Dr James Walsh and independent Malcolm Belchamber in unanimously backing the committee’s proposal.

The council also confirmed the event should continue to be held on the second Saturday in September at Rosemead open space.