Asda told: You help us, we'll help you

The members of the town council's planning and licensing committee agreed to raise no objections to the proposed Asda store at Oldlands Farm off the A29 Shripney Road.

But they said the retailer should be made to sign a legal agreement, known as a section 106 in planning terms, to provide financing for the town centre.

This money would be spent on improving the main retailing area to counter the impact of the new out-of-town store.

One improvement could be to provide a new museum to attract more visitors.

The town councillors also backed the chamber of commerce in seeking a park and ride scheme between the town centre and the proposed Asda.

This would enable customers who went to Asda from outside the town to easily reach the central area for other shopping. A commitment by Asda to use local contractors and workforces in building the new store and installing the services at the business park which the company is proposing to build for a total investment of 30m was sought as well by the councillors.

Their views will be passed to Arun District Council. Its decision to approve or reject Asda's plans will be made on April 9.

The new Asda will be sited in North Bersted but its potential impact led town councillors to hold Tuesday's rare debate about an application in a neighbouring parish. Selling space in the Asda store will be 48,000sq ft or slightly smaller than the 50,000sq ft floor space of Tesco but more than double the 20,000sq ft in Morrisons.

Asda development surveyor Barney Harle told the committee the company was prepared to support the town centre.

"We are willing to show our support for the town centre. If Arun were to approach us, we would make a section 106 contribution to improve the town centre," he said.

He sought to ease councillors' concerns about the impact of a new out-of-town store by saying Bognor's shops were already weakened by thousands of residents who bought goods elsewhere.

He said: "Bognor has plenty of out-of-town shops. They are called Chichester and Littlehampton. That's where the vast number of people travel to."

Asda calculated that 45m a year of residents' spending power leaked away from Bognor a year. The new store would help to stem that outflow of spending power, he claimed.

It would also provide 500 jobs as well as installing all the services and main roads needed for a long-awaited business park on the Oldlands Farm site.

The start on the business park and the building of the first 10,000sq ft office block would help to stimulate interest among prospective occupiers to generate a possible thousand extra jobs.

"At the moment, all they see is a field of wheat. We will peg out the site so people can see what will be there," added Mr Harle.

Comittee member Ken Scutt (Marine) said: "I am very much in favour of the Asda proposals. I can only think of good things about it for Bognor."

Cllr Simon Fyfe (Marine) said his concern was that Asda would be taking space in an area originally proposed for highly paid jobs. "We are trying to create jobs of a higher calibre than shelf stackers," he stated.

But he praised Asda for being prepared to invest in the business park's infrastructure.