Extra funding for big projects
Additional funding for Arun District Council’s major Levelling Up projects has been agreed.
The Alexandra Theatre and Littlehampton Seafront project will see extra funding for changing place toilets and solar panels on the two sites from the council, totalling £183,300.
The decision was approved by the council’s policy and finance committee at its meeting on Thursday, March 7.
The Alexandra Theatre in Bognor Regis will see an additional £82,000 for new changing places and £45,000 for solar panels, bringing the scheme’s funding to £16,161,686.
Regeneration consultant for the council, Neil Taylor told the committee a new contractor had been found for the theatre project, after the previous one resigned – partly over Arun Arts delaying moving out of the theatre. He said Arun Arts had now left, so intrusive survey work had begun into the theatre and Brewers Fayre site, but this had revealed ‘considerable amounts’ of asbestos in the walls and floor of the site. He added the asbestos in the floor could have come from using parts of previ
Both the Alexandra Theatre and Littlehampton Seafront projects were funded by a £19,424,597 Levelling Up Fund (LUF) grant from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) awarded to the council in 2021.
The Littlehampton Seafront project will see an additional £31,300 for new changing places and £25,000 for solar panels, as well as £56,000 extra from the LUF for ‘design guardians’ to oversee implementation of agreed plans, bringing the total budget to £7,346,501.
Council officer Rachel Alderson updated the council on the seafront project, stating the contractor, Neilcott Construction, wanted to keep some toilets on the seafront open over the summer, adding they wanted to ‘keep disruption to a minimum’.
She added the additional LUF funding had been available to the council since the project’s start, with the council only now seeing fit to use it.
The council expects construction and demolition works to start in May this year for the Alexandra Theatre, and April to May for the Littlehampton Seafront.