Councils link together in community meeting

Sompting and north Lancing county councillor, Lionel Parsons, has rallied together four councils to answer questions and debate issues from local residents.

He said: “This enables any questions or details of concern to be directed to the respective council member present, whereby every effort can be made to give a succinct answer and avoid the inherent problem of issues being side- stepped as they are not within the remit of the specific councillor or its council.”

The initial purpose of bringing together council members from West Sussex county, Adur district, Lancing parish and Sompting parish, was to oppose the closure and subsequent demolition of the West Lane Youth Hall and the former Willows Infants School back in 2011 – but the meetings proved useful to residents and became a bimonthly event that would address other items.

Mr Parsons continued: “At these meetings, we have brought together many key representatives of the two villages and our aim is to develop this initiative so that wherever or whenever any group or resident has an item of concern, they can present it in an open and free forum to elected members of all of the local councils, and be assured that key local group members will be on hand to help and support any local campaign or plan.”

This year, in an attempt to reach out to more residents in the villages, Mr Parsons said the group name was being changed from UKIP Local Link to The Lancing and Sompting Community Link.

He said: “At the last meeting, it was agreed that the benefits to the wider community would be greatly served if we were to broaden the outreach for these meeting to more residents.”

The next open meeting will take place at Lancing Parish Hall, South Room, on February 5, at 7.30pm to 9.30pm.

Any group or individual wishing to secure a slot in the agenda, must email Mr Parsons on [email protected] or call 01903 527534.