Published in the Littlehampton Gazette on February 28th. 2013

THE MAJORITY of members of the Arun District Council must be deaf, blind and have skins like rhinos in order to so blatantly ignore and turn their backs upon the wishes of this community. It seems that at every turn our councillors – and I use the word ‘our’ with great care, we are not theirs they are ours, for better or for worse we made them, we fund them and come 2015 we can if we so wish, get rid of them, truths they tend to ignore. The fact that they do ignore the obvious wishes of the caring majority within the LA community in order to pursue their grandiose plans, plans that are at best many years down the line,  beggars belief. They must be aware of the general feeling towards the way they conduct and manipulate our affairs especially where leisure, planning and housing is concerned. They have seen the marchers, received the petitions, heard the murmurings and I hope, read the many literate and thoughtful letters carried in this newspaper by non party political observers and yet still they go their own way.  They have been whittling away at our Windmill Complex for years with an eye to making money from this prime seaside site and, with the closing of the cinema, it seems likely they will, against all of our wishes, eventually have their way. I despair!

SPOTTED! Three vans, a steel container, some heavy plant, traffic lights and five big guys in yellow safety jackets working along Sea Road three weeks ago, that seemingly eternal puddle doesn’t stand a chance and is, at long last, done for, drained, banished! To those of you who contacted me and requested I ‘grumble peevishly’ on your behalf – consider it done and dusted! Well done WSCC, you listened, eventually, and you have acted. Thank you.

I HAVE not tipped my Stetson lately so this week I raise it firmly to the folk who run the eatery at Pulborough Brooks RSPB Reserve who drummed me up a macaroni cheese from out nowhere even though I arrived back from my walk ten minutes after lunch had finished. A lovely day in the spring like sunshine which was, as so many good things often are, over all too briefly.