VIDEO: Littlehampton hospital campaigners travel to meet new health trust

Around 20 campaigners, including Arun and Littlehampton Town councillors and members of the Arun Youth Council, travelled to Crawley for the first meeting of a new Sussex-wide health trust which will have a big say in whether the hospital is built or not.

Carrying posters and placards with the message: “Build Our Hospital Now”, they boarded a “battle bus” outside Arun Civic Centre, Littlehampton for the journey to Crawley leisure complex The Hawth for Thursday’s (July 28) meeting of the NHS Sussex board.

Executives, including chairman Denise Harker and chief executive Amanda Fadero, met the campaigners before the main meeting.

Ms Fadero told them: “Having looked at some of the documentation I have received on the Littlehampton Hospital issue, I’m really sorry and can absolutely understand your frustration at what has been a long story.

“I can’t today tell you we will be building a hospital. I have not got all the facts and figures. But I can say that we will work with you and the people in the community to come up with a plan of action.”

The Littlehampton delegation asked questions before and during the board meeting, with similar responses given by the executives.

Today (Monday, August 1) Arun council leader Gill Brown was due to meet Ms Fadero for further talks on the hospital project.

Since the old hospital was demolished in 2005, two rebuilding schemes have come to nothing, despite extensive, detailed work on the replacements being carried out.