New mayor pledges bigger public say

Cllr Don Eldridge became the elected first citizen for the next year at the annual meeting of the town council on Monday.

His election was agreed unanimously by the Liberal Democrat, Conservative and Independent councillors.

Cllr Eldridge said: 'There's a lot of things to do in the coming year. Regeneration is coming up. The town needs to have a good voice in the matter.

'The town council has got to speak out and make sure that what is happening in the town is what the people of Bognor want and not what someone over in Littlehampton wants.

'We have to work in partnership with others but we don't just want flats built here. We want to have some life in the town. We definitely need a theatre, whether it's as part of a multi-purpose building or not.

'We want to get back to the days of the Rex Ballroom on the seafront when people used to come here from miles around.

'We need to bring back the glory days of the town so that people who live here can have ownership of the new projects and take pride in them.

'But I am not against change. We must never forget that we have a future just as we must not lose our past.'

Among his top requirements for the projects to be built in the next few years on the Regis Centre/ Hotham Arts Centre site and the Hothamton car park are facilities for young people.

Cllr Eldridge (56) arrived in Bognor in September 1996 on a teacher training course at the University of Chichester. He ended up taking a geography degree to which he added a MSc in historical geography from Portsmouth University.

He had been born in the Darent Valley of Kent and moved to London aged 23. His jobs included managing a hostel for drug addicts, working in a Christian bookshop and with the government's employment service.

But, once he had sat on Bognor seafront on his first day in the town, he fell in love with the town. He living in Belmont Street, opposite the town hall, made it easy for him to attend some council meetings.

He got talking to Lib Dem councillors and joined them in May 2003 when he was elected for the Orchard ward. He was immediately made chairman of the town council's planning committee where he could indulge his passion for maps.

He made a point of getting rid of protocol to enable members of the public to feel at ease when they were stating their views.

He became the deputy town mayor last May. His re-election to the town council two weeks ago enabled him to succeed Cllr John Hayward as the town mayor.

Cllr Eldridge, of Sturges Road, works part-time in The Living Word Christian bookshop in the town centre and attends the King's Gate Church at Bognor Regis Community College's lower school in Pevensey Road. He has been married to Helen (32) for seven months.

The deputy town mayor for the coming year will be Cllr Jenny Gillibrand. She was also chosen unanimously by town councillors on Monday.

l A new leader of the town council was also unanimously elected at Monday's meeting. Town centre resident Cllr Greg Burt said the next four years of the council following the elections earlier this month gave a real opportunity for progress to be made.

'Bognor is my first love and always has been. I am sure that is something shared by everyone around this table and by people in the public gallery,' he stated.

'It is good to see some people around this table who have been involved in events in the town for many years and have always had a passion for getting things done.

'Hopefully, we can leave party politics behind at the election count on May 4 and that we will all be friends of Bognor for the next four years.'