Council's park cash meeting cancelled

The special session of Arun District Council's performance scrutiny committee was due to be held.

It was arranged after Cllr Paul Wells challenged the move by Paul Wotherspoon, who is in charge of the council's environment policies, to end a 10,000 annual grant to the Hotham Park Heritage Trust.

Cllr Wells protested that the decision had been taken without any consultation with councillors whose area included the park.

He was backed by four other councillors for an official 'call in' of Cllr Wotherspoon's decision.

But the scrutiny committee was due to have met behind closed doors. This meant even heritage trust members would have been banned from attending.

However, the meeting will now not take place, after Cllr Wells withdrew his 'call in' request having been assured the matter of the grant will be considered again by Cllr Wotherspoon after consulting with interested individuals.

Cllr Wells said: "I am pleased that this matter is going out for consultation. I am happy with the fresh look at the situation.

"If councillors are unhappy with the new decision, we still have the ability for a further 'call in'."

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