Boundaries - all change

Arundel ward is top left hand corner and is vast.

You may or may not be aware, but the Arundel & Walberton wards have had a boundary change forced

upon them by the Boundary Commission. We now have a ridiculous situation where as The Arundel and Walberton ward is being joined to make it a 3 member (Councillor) ward. It is a huge geographical area with a total of 11 parishes. (part of Angermering, Arundel, Polling, Lyminster, Warningcamp, Burpham, South Stoke, Madehurst, Houghton, Slindon, Walberton)

Residents may not be aware but District Councillors have to service the Parishes and I regularly visit Arundel Town Council, Burpham Parish, Warningcamp and Lyminster Parish Council. Norman Dingerman who is the Councillor for Walberton regularly visits Walberton, Slindon and Madehurst parishes

Arun District as a whole is reducing from 56 Councillors to 52, but I believe the Boundary Commission has missed a trick. I wanted to see a reduction from 56 to 45 which I believed would save Arun up to £250,000 and could have kept an Arundel two member ward, I made my own representations, but there wasn’t unanimity by Arun Councillors so the Boundary Commission forced its own solution on the Council.

So now we have a situation where each of us will need to service 11 parishes, unless we decide to divide the ward ourselves into areas of responsibility which defeats the whole purpose of the Boundary Commissions review.

The Conservatives have chosen their 3 candidates for the Arundel & Walberton ward, they are myself, Norman Dingerman and new Candidate Robert Wheal, Don Ayling who is the other current Arundel District Councillor didn’t put his name forward for re-selection, so our thanks need to go to him for his erstwhile service as Arundel District Councillor.

I don’t know the names of other party’s candidates yet; maybe someone from those parties can contact me so I can advise readers who they are in future articles. I would hope that we could possibly get some public hustings going when the election starts so the public can join the electoral debate, I leave that to the individual parishes to decide if they wish to do that.

Local Conservatives are holding a Curry Lunch on the 7^th of September at the excellent India Gate restaurant in Arundel, Non Members are very welcome -Tickets only: £19.50pp.which includes

Papadoms, Two Courses of Indian Cuisine inc wine or beer. Bookings can be made via http://www.southdownsconservatives.com

Until next month,

Paul Dendle is Arundel Ward & Cabinet Member for Leisure & Amenities on Arun DC. He can be contacted on email pauldendle@aol.com.

Arundel Youth Club & Learning Tree Nursery - Statement from Arundel Town Council

Arundel Town Council Statement

"We are pleased to advise that following a meeting yesterday (16 July 2014) an agreement has been reached between Arundel Youth Club and the Learning Tree, with the result that provision for both services will continue whilst the legal issues with the lease (lessor WSCC) of the premises which is used by both the Youth Club and the Learning Tree is resolved.

We extend our thanks to all parties involved in particular Cllr Dendle of Arun District Council who chaired the meeting, and look forward to a final outcome that will enhance youth and early years services in Arundel.

Commenting Cllr Dendle said “It was a difficult meeting but in the end we managed to come to a common sense solution with the goodwill of all parties”, The Mayor Cllr Tu said “This was an issue that has been of concern to us for a number of months and we are pleased to play an active role in the solution”.

Flood Fair in Arundel - Call to action

Arundel Flooding.

If you may remember, I have been pushing to try and get Flood Forum down to Arundel to advise regarding simple devices that can help build resilience for your homes, I managed to get Arun to contribute money towards the event

Mike De-Lara of the  Arundel Flood Risk Community Group has arranged for them to be at the Town Hall on the Friday the 12th of September from 4-8pm,  I would urge all residents to put this date in their diary, forewarned is forearmed and there is talk (not confirmed yet) that insurance premiums could be reduced if you install these type of devices,  it will be worth an hour of your time.