Barrier mooted to stop travellers using coach park

The deterrent to any further illegal occupations of the London Road site is being considered by Arun District Council. Councillors will be asked in the next few months to spend 16,700 in the coming year on the equipment.

Of that total, 14,000 will go towards the barrier. The rest will pay for a security company to monitor the keypad on which a code will need to be entered to get past the barrier. This will be an ongoing cost.

Cllr Paul Wells, who represents Hotham on the district council, welcomed the prospect of the barrier at the coach and lorry park's main entrance off the A259 Hotham Way.

"The travellers have become a real issue to the community in that area," he said, "because of the disruption they cause to Edward Bryant Primary School next door and the criminal damage to the coach and lorry park.

"The coach park is a valuable asset to the town because it brings day trippers to Bognor."

Putting in the barrier was inevitable because the council received a lack of support from the police in dealing with the travellers, he claimed.

His comments were backed by support for the barrier from the Joint West Arun Area Committee at its meeting last week.

Travellers have regularly camped on the coach and lorry park in the past few years.

The last occasion was in July, which involved 24 of their vans, plus other vehicles and trailers.

They gained access through the main entrance and stayed for a week. Their disruptive occupation included damage to bollards, interruption to lawful users of the site and disruption to the council's contractors who were working in neighbouring Hotham Park as well as the primary school next door.

Their time at the site cost the district council at least 5,000 in clear-up costs, lost income from other motorists and legal expenses.

Arun's treasurer, Alan Peach, told the meeting that three options to protect the coach and lorry park had been investigated.

These were to do nothing, install a height barrier at the risk of barring coaches and lorries from the parking spaces and to put in a code-operated barrier.

The last of these options had been backed by most of the organisations and individuals consulted about the matter, he explained.

Few were in favour of the height barrier because of fears it would project a negative image of Bognor to tourism operators.

Committee chairman, Cllr Paul Wotherspoon, said the proposals showed that the district council was committed to keeping open the coach and lorry park.

"We have no plans to shut it. I want to scotch any rumours going around saying that," he emphasised.

London Road resident Ian Harding had raised the question about the site's future after hearing gossip that it could be at risk.

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