Outrage overwar memorial signage plan

The town council members unanimously opposed any attempt to install the sign and post pointing visitors to the Hotham Arts Centre in front of the cenotaph.

The prospect was condemned as a civic disgrace and a disfigurement of a dignified area. In particular, they were worried about the impact of the sign and post on the annual Remembrance Sunday service.

More than a thousand people of all ages from a wide variety of organisations gather around the war memorial each November to pay their respects to those who have died serving their country.

West Sussex County Council's highways and transport department advised the town council it was proposed to move the sign from its current position outside the Citizen's Advice Bureau in Clarence Road when it was renamed to reflect the current Hotham Arts Centre title rather than the previous Regis Centre.

The new position would place the sign immediately on the corner of Belmont Street and Clarence Road adjacent to the war memorial.

However, the proposal received strong objections from the town council's planning and licensing committee. Chairman Cllr Rob Gillibrand said after this week's town council meeting: 'If the sign was stuck where it is proposed, it will get in the way of the Remembrance Sunday service.

'Having the lamppost to the left of the war memorial is bad enough. There is no real need for the sign to be moved,' he commented.

'The word '˜disgraceful' about the proposal was bandied about the committee meeting quite a lot. The war memorial is a sacred area and we don't want it cluttered up with street furniture that can be put somewhere else.'

The committee suggested the sign should be placed, instead, on the right hand footway as viewed from the seafront or further along Clarence Road on the northern side of its junction with Belmont Street.

If these proved unsuitable, the committee said it wanted to be advised of other suggested locations and informed of the outcome of the considerations.

Doug Phillips, the president of the Royal British Legion's Bognor branch, said: 'If the sign is put in front of the war memorial, it will be in the way when we place our wreaths. The sign should be put on the opposite side of Belmont Street away from the war memorial. There's no reason why that can't be done.'