West Sussex landmarks could benefit from £20 million funding bid
Arun District Council is looking to make improvements to Littlehampton's seafront and Bognor's Alexandra Theatre
Last updated 11th Jun 2021
Arun District Council will submit a bid to the government’s Levelling Up Fund in the hope of receiving £20m to pay for two projects.
If successful, the aim is to spend £7.3m improving Littlehampton’s seafront and riverside, with another £12.1m going towards a revamp of the Alexandra Theatre, in Bognor Regis.
During a meeting of the economic committee on Tuesday (June 8) members authorised Karl Roberts, director of place, to finalise the bid documentation, which needs to be submitted by June 18.
Nick Gibb, MP for Bognor Regis & Littlehampton, has been asked to write a letter of support and Mr Roberts will also approach neighbouring MPs to do the same.
The Littlehampton project includes:
- A lighting scheme around the Oyster Pond
- New toilet facilities, including a Changing Place toilet
- External showers
- New concessions on Banjo Road
- Four play areas including water jets
- A redesign of West Green car park
- Improved public realm and extensive landscaping.
The Bognor Regis project includes:
- New front of house facilities at the theatre
- More seating and other internal improvements
- A new roof
- Exhibition space
- More meeting rooms
- New toilets, including a Changing Place toilet.
The aim of the Levelling Up Fund is to provide investment for infrastructure in towns and villages most in need – with coastal communities being one of the hot spots.
The first round of bidding focuses on three areas: regeneration, cultural investment and transport, with Arun’s bid covering the first two.
Being a bidding process, though, there are no guarantees that the council will be successful – in fact, some councillors were sure it wouldn’t be.
Others suggested that the Bognor Regis part of the project should be put on hold for more work and a later bid.
But it was pointed out that the council would only get one bite of the cherry – if the Littlehampton bid was successful, it could not apply for more funding for Bognor.
Dr James Walsh (Lib Dem, Beach) said:
“Let’s go for this wholeheartedly. Let’s try our best to make sure that we get it and actually get something really happening for Bognor Regis and for Littlehampton.
“Twenty million pounds is a lot of money and we really do need to go full steam for it.”
Andy Cooper (Con, Angmering & Findon) said the idea of enhanced parking in Littlehampton was ‘a no brainer’ but he did have concerns about the proposed changes in Banjo Road and how this would affect coach parking.
Calling the plans for Bognor ‘a good enhancement’, he added:
“I think it is just the tip of the iceberg for Bognor and everything else it will see in the next few years.”
Addressing the ‘nervousness’ shown by some towards the Bognor project, leader Shaun Gunner (Con, Rustington East) said:
“It shows ambition on the part of the council that we want to be gaining public money in order to be getting people into our towns and show that we are investing and that the government, hopefully, is also investing in our towns as well.”
He added:
“What we hope is that this will be the catalyst for further investment, both public and private, going forward and that’s something we should all be positive about.”
The council will find out in September or October whether its bid has been successful.
If it has, it will have to provide ten per cent of match funding and will have until March 31 2024 to spend the money.