Businesses join up to fight Asda store plan

Bognor Regis Ltd, the chamber of commerce and the Arun Business Partnership have joined together to fight for the site of the proposed giant store to be kept for industrial jobs.

They warn that failure to protect the land at Oldlands Farm, next to the A29 Shripney Road, could see some of Bognor's biggest commercial employers forced to look elsewhere for new premises.

The farmland location, immediately north of the entrance to John Wiley and Son's offices and warehouses on Oldlands Way, has been allocated by Arun District Council for eight years for industrial use.

The council envisaged jobs created by a modern business park would balance the need for work created by the occupiers of the 1,350 homes about to be built at North Bersted and Felpham.

A total of 11.25 hectares is earmarked for immediate use. Another 11.8ha can be used once potential flooding risks from the Lidsey Rife have been overcome.

But the prohibitive cost of funding the required infrastructure to turn the site into an industrial hub has deterred any developers. This is estimated by Asda at 4.5m for internal roads and services.

Arun has used the threat of a compulsory purchase order to get some action from the landowner. But the arrival of a major retailer, as revealed by the Observer in May, led to last week's revelation of Asda's desire to invest 30m into the town.

David Myers, Bognor Regis Ltd's consultant, said the presence of a superstore on the edge of Bognor rather than preserving the site for industrial use could ultimately harm the town.

Bognor Regis Ltd speaks for 20 companies who employ about 1,200 people. They included Wileys, Solartron, Eurotek and Eaton Power Solutions.

About half of them are owned by overseas firms who weighed up Bognor's attractions on a worldwide basis.

He stated: "Bognor Regis Ltd says Oldlands Farm should go ahead on the basis of what Arun has specified in their local development framework to have industrial development there because there is no other greenfield site available around the town.

"We have members who employ 200 to 300 workers who are looking for alternative locations because their leases are running out or they are unhappy with their present premises, particularly in Durban Road, or they want to combine several units in one place.

"There is a lot of pressure on these guys. They have to keep their businesses going forward.

"But they have to justify staying in Bognor and what do they do if there is nowhere for them to go?"

He said a recent example of an overseas owned firm's decision to leave Bognor was Respironics which left Heath Place for purpose-built premises in Tangmere.

"This is not being opposed to Asda. It is being opposed to the use of that site for retail purposes," Mr Myers stated.