Bognor Regis Civic Society - Bognor Regis Local News

ON THIS AND THE FOLLOWING LN&IoC PAGES are matters which we and others feel more local people should know about, and also on which some people feel concerns, and should receive wider discussion or investigation. Also, there are subsequent NEWS ARCHIVE pages, current in the past and which may be of interest.

“WAYFINDING” SCHEME FOR BOGNOR REGIS?

Also, in some places, called a “Wayfaring” scheme. But what is it, and what’s it for? And who is instigating it, who is paying for it – and most of all – do we want it?

Information is sketchy, to say the least. But it seems that the whole idea is to create a system of directional pointers within the town, so that people can find their way around to our various areas of interest and entertainment.

Er, but wait a minute. We have that already don’t we? – quite elegant signposts at strategic spots, with labelled fingers pointing the direction to take for, say, Hotham Park or Butlins. Well yes, we did once, but our old friend Arun District Council, as usual, failed to maintain them so that they became horribly scruffy – and then solved the problem by taking them away.

All except one, just outside the south gate of Hotham Park, nicely painted and looking very appropriate for an Edwardian seaside town. You can see it here. (UPDATE: we’ve since found another, appallingly neglected, next to the west side of the Fitzleet multi-storey flats).

THE SCHEME

So is the scheme simply to install more of these around the town? That would be the easy answer wouldn’t it? Apparently not. Certain unelected people meeting outside the public gaze seem to think we need something different. Something a bit more jazzy.

Hmm. And the problem might be that what is considered ‘jazzy’ or ‘up to date’ or ‘exciting’ by these people and the ‘consultant’ they have employed, might not be quite so well received by the residents of the town. In fact, the few who have seen preliminary suggestions have made remarks such as “childish,” and “where’s Noddy and Big-Ears?” Not a good start. You can see an example here, suggested for the same location as the picture above.

The concern seems to stem from the wild primary colours used and the simplistic nature of the signage suggested. Wacky, attention-grabbing and suggestive of fun maybe, but what does it say about our town? And is that the message we want to project, bearing in mind that this theme is intended to appear all round the town?

Some more pictures are included below of what is suggested, related to other locations and, as you will notice, attached to other parts of the town, notably the Hotham Park wall.

Whatever, some serious public consultation is needed, and NOT one of those where some pretty pictures are put up of just one scheme with the question “do you like it?” Proper consultation provides a number of realistic alternatives, to enable to the public to choose which they prefer.

At the moment, we are told that it will be a “consultative, community driven process.” This sounds suspiciously vague, especially as there is mention of “Stakeholder engagement via consultation from University of Chichester, Bognor Regis Town Council, Bognor Regis BID businesses and Butlins.” This sort of arrangement usually leads to dominant decision-making from the biggest and loudest group which is giving the most money. And our concern is how much say the town’s residents will have in all this – especially as there is, at the moment, no sign of an alternative to the current suggestions.

So – what do you think? Exciting and wacky? Or cheap and childish? Confusing? Too much Butlins? And what happens when those bits on the pavement and seats start to look tatty? Either way, we’d love to hear your views. Email and let us know – for email address click here: contact us – better still, send us a contribution to our new “Letters to the Editor” page – see here

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£38,000 FOR FIVE NEW TOILET DOORS?

Yes, you can believe it, this works out to £7,600 per door! These doors, the ones shown in the picture above of the infamous “blue b*gs” installed on the Prom by Arun District Council at vast expense. The only building they have to show, so far, for 40 years of so-called “regeneration.” And Arun has paid a massive sum to renew the five doors and, we have to ask, why did they not have these doors made by a local craftsman? Even on that basis, they would not have cost such a vast sum.

There is nothing special to these doors, and nobody would have known how much Arun had spent on renewing them if it hadn’t been for a Freedom of Information Act request by well-known watchdog Derrick Chester of Littlehampton – presumably they were hoping to keep this embarrassing revelation secret. As yet there has been no explanation for the vast cost of these doors, but we will be asking.

Of course, the doors do have to face the ravages of the weather all year round, but you would expect that this would have been allowed for in the original specification. Some of you will remember that the installation of this block was controversial to begin with – ordered as a pre-constructed unit at considerable cost, took ages to arrive, then remained closed while wrangling went on over manufacturing issues, leaks etc. And recently they have been closed again with maintenance problems to the roof and other parts.

All in all, not a good buy by Arun, and it has to be assumed that they are obliged to buy the new doors from this same manufacturer – who will be keen to make the most out of it that they can. Hmm….

So, we have to ask, is this a world record for the price of toilet doors? Arun already has the record for the most expensive sandpit in the world – £40,000 for the “beach on the beach” as they called it – and then built a children’s playground nextdoor so that hardly anybody uses it any more. And now we have the most expensive toilet doors in the world.

We are being flippant, of course, but in fact this is serious. Arun is flinging OUR MONEY around like there’s no tomorrow, and we pay for it when the council tax bills fall on the mat. And the question is, what else are they spaffing our money away on that we don’t know about?

We will be returning to this subject, and when we find out the reason for this horrendous waste of public money we will let you know. Meanwhile, if you have any comments on this please email and let us know – our address can be found by clicking contact us – better still, send us a contribution to our new “Letters to the Editor” page – see here

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