Arundel Riverbank work coming

River Arun.

The long awaited  £4.7M Arundel river bank repairs 
to the River Road are due to commence in October 
this year, I'm not sure every householder in the 
surrounding area realises the disruption this might 
cause especially to parking places in Arun street.

  

Work on the scheme is due to start on Monday 
21 October 2019 and will last until 28 May 2020. 
It will comprise 4 separate parts:

a.       River Road – 21 Oct 19 to 28 May 20

b.      Fitzalan Road Wall – 5 Nov 19 to 10 Feb 20

c.       The Embankment near the Southern Water Ford Road 
Pumping Station - 6 Apr 20 to 30 Apr 20

d.      The Embankment at the southern end of Fitzalan Road
– 29 Apr 20 to 20 May 20

The traffic implications of the scheme, particularly regarding 
the access to the River Road works by heavy transport. The 
contractors, Team Van OOrd (TVO), have produced a draft 
transport plan, but although the first version was written in 
February, there has so far been very little local coordination.

Thanks to Town Councillor Tony Hunt and  Derek Waller 

(Town Councils Flood Advisor), they are  trying to ensure 

that the inevitable adverse impacts on the Town’s roads 

and parking arrangements are minimised. Tony and Derek 

had a meeting with the EA and TVO in July in which they 

raised a whole series of points, and I am pleased to say 

that EA and TVO have agreed to re-write the draft 

transport plan.

The objective is to ensure that traffic disruption is avoided 

where possible, whilst accepting that the advantages of this 

£4.7m scheme are too good to miss, especially the River 

Road element.

The main contractors’ site will be in the lower Mill Road 

Car Park, with supplementary sites in the River Road Car 

Park and in Arun Street Garden. As a result, the River Road 

Car Park will be out of use for the duration of the project, 

and there will be parking restrictions in Arun Street and at 

its junction with Tarrant Street. There will also be periodic 

disruption to traffic in Surrey Street as well as in the lower 

end of Tarrant Street. Later on there will inevitably be some 

disruption to traffic and parking in Fitzalan Road and in the 

Malthouse Close car park.

I am highlighting the issue for individual house and car 

owners, as well as the community at large, everyone needs 

to be aware of the project’s implications, eg forewarned is 

forearmed.

Until Next Month, Paul Dendle is the Arundel & Walberton 

District Councillor on Arun District and also the Economic 

Spokesperson for the Conservative group. His email is 

cllr.paul.dendle@arun.gov.uk

August Sussex Local article

Interesting times at Arun District Council, we the 

Conservative opposition are setting the pace and 

challenging a number of bewildering decisions as 

well as holding the LibDem Cabinet’s feet to the fire.

I have met with the Green Councillors and am working 

closely on some shared objectives, cross party working 

is something new , but although we don’t agree on some 

fairly important things, we do agree on a lot and I’m 

pleased to work with them.

At a recent Overview Committee we were vigorous in 

asking questions and putting down recommendations. 

I managed to get the Recycling target increased from 

40% to 50% (This was passed unanimously) and the 

building target for Councils own  stock increased from

 25 homes per annum to 35 homes per annum. 

(This would have been unanimous Independents and 

Greens supported it but 3 Lib Dem councillors voted 

against this).

Lib Dem’s in the past have been notorious for not turning 

up to meetings, it has been discovered that some Cabinet 

members had not met with their officers a good month 

after taking up position, bearing in mind they are being 

paid a Special responsibility allowance to be Cabinet 

members and should be doing the job properly.

We have also heard some worrying things that may happen, 

there is the desire by the Lib Dem Cabinet to re-open the 

Local plan, this could cost between £1M-£2M and suck up 

valuable  officer time for the next 3-4years.

There was also a large scale consultation about to take 

place in Bognor Regis regarding The Sunken Gardens

redevelopment,  The LibDems want to cancel the 

consultation at a potential cost of £320k, my groups 

attitude is that the consultation should go ahead as there 

is nothing wrong with asking people want they want.

With the Cabinet system you should have collective 

responsibility where as the Cabinet speak with one voice, 

but the Lib Dem’s deputy leader Francis Oppler has voted 

against the leader in a  recent meeting giving the impression 

of a Cabinet in chaos. Francis Oppler has desires to be leader 

and appears to be undermining the Leader James Walsh 

for personal ambition.

The first real Full Council is on the 17th of July, I write this 

column around the 7th of the month, so I  will report the 

outcome of that meeting in next months article.

Until next month,  Paul Dendle is one of the Arundel & 

Walberton Ward members and is the spokesperson for the 

Conservative group on the economy. His email is 

cllr.paul.dendle@arun.gov.uk