Councillor called upon to quit for a second time

Cllr Ricky Bower is due to chair his first meeting of Arun District Council's local development framework sub-committee tonight after being reinstated.

He was forced to step down last November and apologise after he spoke to the BBC about the prospect of housing being built on a field near Aldingbourne's church.

This broke the council's impartiality rules which require councillors' comments on planning matters to be neutral to avoid prejudicing decisions.

But Cllr Bower was restored to lead the sub-committee at Arun's annual meeting earlier this month. This has led the parish councillors who called for his original resignation to demand he should step down again.

A statement by John Penfold and Mick Hutton, the chairman of Aldingbourne and Eastergate parish councils, backed by Villages Action Group chairman Mike Turner, states: 'We are absolutely astonished that Cllr Bower has been reappointed in view of his actions in misleading the public regarding the LDF plans, for which he had to resign before.

'Cllr Bower should resign immediately from this committee and leave the LDF process altogether.'

Arun's leader, Gill Brown, defended the return of Cllr Bower. He had to leave the sub-committee to ensure absolute clarity about impartiality during the consultation process about land for housing.

But she stated: 'I had no doubts about his integrity, but I thought it important that there should be no confusion in the minds of the residents during the consultation period. That is now over and the responses are still being analysed.'

Cllr Bower remained as Arun's councillor in charge of planning services while he gave up the chairmanship of the sub-committee.

Its meeting tonight will be the first since the end of the consultation period into three options for sites for thousands of homes by 2026.

In the Bognor area, these are north of Chalcraft Lane in North Bersted, Ford and Aldingbourne, Barnham and Westergate.

Plans for up 2,500 homes west of Westergate and a bypass and bridge over the railway land were submitted on the consultation deadline by Hallam Land Management.

Documents uncovered by campaigners show talks between Arun and Hallam took place as long ago as June 2007.

But Arun chief executive Ian Sumnall assured hundreds of residents who attended two public meetings in the villages no proposals were being developed or had been received by the district council.

Cllrs Penfold and Hutton and Mr Turner said Cllr Bower must also have been aware of Hallam's intentions when he spoke to the BBC.

'These events demonstrate complete disregard for the democratic rights of local people.

'It is now very clear that Arun have not been at all honest with our local district councillors, the relevant parish councils or the action group regarding releasing the information repeatedly requested about the development proposals for Westergate, Eastergate and Barnham.

'The latest Hallam Land proposal... would completely change the rural character of the area,' they said.

'Mr Sumnall should be called upon to explain why he repeatedly denied that any such proposal existed.'

An Arun spokesman said Mr Sumnall's answer was a statement of fact. No submission had then been made by Hallam Land to the council or a meeting requested with him.

She stressed: 'The district council rejects in the strongest possible terms any suggestions of wrongdoing throughout this process that have been made by Mr Penfold, Mr Turner and Mr Hutton.'