Embattled chairman refuses to resign

The‘extraordinary’ meeting of the council turned out to be on the far end of the scale for the meaning of the word.

About 100 villagers waited for a judo class at the community centre to finish before the hall was set out for the meeting, only for the combat to continue verbally among parish councillors.

Six members of the council called for the meeting, to raise issues including concerns that some councillors had been kept in the dark over talks with developers and Arun District Council on major housing plans for the village and over the future of the Palmer Road recreation ground, its pavilion and the Angmering Sports and Recreation Association.

All six parish councillors – Pat Turner, Julia Graham, Sylvia Verrinder, Paul Bicknell, Colin Trott and Susan Francis – who asked for the meeting declared they had no confidence in Cllr Mountain as chairman, a stance also taken by councillor Albert Mariner.

Cllr Mountain, who received support from parish councillors Jenny Bos and Peter Spooner, insisted he would not resign and said he had had to listen to ‘some of the biggest load of misinformation’.