Regeneration: Traders' chance to be informed

The session is being organised by the town's chamber of commerce in response to concerns that those who provide employment are being ignored in the consultations.

A date has yet to be arranged for the meeting, agreed by the chamber's executive committee on Monday, but it is likely to take place in the daytime. Chamber president and chairman Nick Stuart Nicolson said it was important the organisation represented the firms and individuals who kept the town's economy going.

Of particular concern were the traders along and around the seafront. They faced an uncertain future because of the drastic changes proposed for the Regis Centre site. Work could start in a couple of years.

He stated: 'We should defend the businesses around the town, including those on the seafront. If they feel they are getting a bad deal, it's for us to stand up for them.'

Cllr Paul Wells said he and fellow councillors Jeanette Warr and Jim Brooks had met with some business owners to discuss their disquiet at being ignored in the ongoing regeneration work.

'Is the chamber prepared to organise such a meeting for businesses in the town to try to instigate that negotiation between them and Arun District Council and St Modwen?

'There is some concern in the business community that they are not perhaps being informed as much as they would like to be.

'This regeneration is clearly a fast moving beast and there is concern about what is going to happen during the building process.

'The town is going to be a building site for four years. That is a long time for a loss of parking spaces while that is going on,' he commented.

'We have seen the initial pictures of what the scheme will look like and what it is going to be like at the end.

'But there is not much discussion about what is going to happen while the work is taking place.

'We need to have some plans about how the town is going to cope. It is going to be a tough time.

'We saw what happened when the High Street work went on a few years ago.'

Mr Brooks called for careful phasing of the building work to ensure its impact on businesses was limited as much as possible.

The need for a meeting arose out of a discussion by the executive committee about the intention to close The Esplanade between Clarence Road and the pier.

This is being considered by St Modwen as a key element of its proposals to create a new seafront entertainment and leisure complex with a piazza.

Committee member Ian Harding said the road closure would help to bring Bognor into the 21st century as a seaside resort. The seafront would need to undergo drastic changes in the coming years anyway because of the rising sea level.

But this would entail re-opening the High Street to traffic, with a 20mph limit, to maintain an east-west through route for drivers.

This prompted a debate among the committee about the working of the current road closure.