Five Villages could end up with no say in county

West Sussex County Council wants to abandon the system of three joint area committees which cover the Arun district.

It has walked away from the structure of the three Downland and east and west Arun committees.

The next round of meetings in January and February will be cancelled if the plans go ahead.

In their place, it wants to set up two county local committees for the east and west of the district to match the structure in the rest of West Sussex.

But the new set-up would mean matters which affect residents of areas such as Barnham, Walberton and Yapton having to be covered alongside issues for the coastal urban strip.

Arun member Cllr Norman Dingemans (Walberton) is the vice chairman of the joint downland area committee.

He said he feared the rural area would not be properly represented under the proposals.

'The current arrangements reflect the diversity of the Arun district and the special nature of the rural area.

'There is no question that other districts and boroughs in West Sussex look on the joint area committee structure in Arun in envy.

'We must gather the views of all the people who will be affected by this change and feed it back to the county council as a matter of urgency,' said Cllr Dingemans.

Arun deputy leader Cllr Roger Elkins complained the county's proposals had been made without any consultation.

The area committees comprise members of parish, district and county councils as well as organisations such as the police.

The county local committees are composed of county councillors only. Other councils can take part when invited.

The governance committee of the county council will be discussing the council's stance on Monday, November 26.

A report by county secretary Mike Kendall states: 'Some county councillors have highlighted a lack of spirit of partnership working in the joint area committees and that meetings of these committees were used too frequently to raise issues already being discussed with the county council through other channels.

'In summary, some county councillors in Arun feel that the committees do not engage the community and do not have the flexibility of other CLCs across the county to set their own agenda and engage with local communities in less formal ways.'