LETTER: Once it's gone, it's gone forever

The council spent a huge amount of public money tearing down the old civic centre which had stood on the site for just 30 years.

Now there is a rush to market this site to the private sector at a cost of £150,000.

To quote, ‘the benefits of securing a large capital receipt are quite compelling’.

Public land was sold off previously at New Monks Farm and not replaced, like for like.

Can I just remind the council that we are the custodians of publicly-owned assets, not owners of them?

Here is an opportunity to build housing offering affordable rents and permanent secure tenancies for people on local wages.

The government recently announced they were removing the borrowing cap for some councils allowing more funds for housebuilding, so we could wait to see these details first given this land won’t even be vacant until 2019.

Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.

Councillor Lee Cowen, Labour Party, Greet Road, Lancing

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