Littlehampton warning

He said that the regeneration scheme which saw the East Bank of the River Arun in Littlehampton opened up and mostly turned into waterfront housing had failed to boost the town.

It had achieved little apart from tidying up the area.

"You can only build your way out of deprivation if you tackle the root causes of deprivation head-on," he stated.

"Most of the people who frequent those apartments '“ many of which are second homes '“ would rather go out of the area to shop.

"We do need to learn serious lessons from this."

Any future regeneration in the district must reflect public need and not speculators' greed, he asserted.