Four year mission to revive Littlehampton underway

Part of the £234,250 funding Sainsbury’s had to pay as a condition of planning permission to rebuild its Rustington superstore will go towards the new post, which is expected to run for about four years.

The new officer will be expected to bring into being a wide range of initiatives thought up by the Littlehampton Traders’ Partnership and its spin-off Town Team group, and develop other schemes to improve the town centre outlined in the existing Littlehampton Vision document.

Simon Vickers, chairman of the traders’ partnership, and Celia Thomson, of the Town Team, backed the appointment when they spoke at a meeting of Arun District Council’s Littlehampton regeneration sub-committee on Tuesday night.

Arun’s cabinet will be asked at its meeting on Monday night to give authorisation for the Sainsbury’s cash to be used to recruit the regeneration officer.

When Arun gave planning permission for the supermarket rebuilding earlier this year, it was recognised that Sainsbury’s should pay a substantial contribution to offset the impact of its new store on Littlehampton town centre.

Morrisons, which is building a new supermarket at Wick, also had to contribute more than £100,000 towards initiatives reducing its effect on Wick and Littlehampton shopping centres.

Anthony Everitt, Arun’s senior economic development officer, said: “Traders have a huge amount of energy and enthusiasm, but they run their businesses every day. This new officer will provide that extra pair of hands to move all these ideas forward.”