Ramp will continue to stay shut

The access to the town’s public launching ramp off Gloucester Road is set to remain shut.

Arun District Council has told a councillor it is undecided about seeking a new operator.

Jeanette Warr submitted a freedom of information request to the council because of her anger about the way the ramp had been left closed.

She said at Bognor Regis Chamber of Commerce’s executive committee on Tuesday: “It looks like Arun don’t want to do anything with the ramp.

“But something has to be done with it and fairly quickly. All the time, this town is going down and down.”

She said she had been told by a jetskier he was about to sell his caravan and move elsewhere because of the lack of access to the water.

Fellow committee member Jim Brooks said: “The ramp should be at least open during the school holidays.

“It is an obvious sign we are open for business. If it is closed all the time, people will misuse it and there’s no control at all.”

The ramp shut this year after Arun hired Inspire Leisure to run it in 2012 after protests from users.

The council told Cllr Mrs Warr (LD, Hotham) two potential operators had returned tender packs to run the site this summer. “Both parties failed to meet the requirements of the informal tender process,” it said.

Plans to go out to tender again were ‘not as yet determined’, Arun stated. No public money will be spent on the ramp, it says.