Residents slam plans for Premier Inn in Bognor Regis

The plans come in the wake of a land swap deal organised by Arun District Council and Whitbread plc.

Whitbread, will give up its lease on the Alexandra Theatre in exchange for a £750,000 buy out and a long lease on the land to the south east corner of the Regis Centre car park site, where a Premier Inn will be built.

Duane Wadey, a director of the Berkeley Court Management Company which represents the 51 flats on nearby Berkeley Court, said: "We’re concerned about the impact on parking in the area. There’s obviously quite a large car park attached to The Regis Centre and, if they build this nice big hotel where are they going to put the parking for it? Because they’re going to building on that space. Personally, I think putting a hotel on the seafront for the sake of it, so that Arun Council can get their land back is a real shame.

"You’ve got a whacking great big building being built in a town with limited parking and limited green space."

Residents of Berkeley Court will be meeting on Saturday to make their concerns heard.

The land-swap will pave the way for a £15.2 million pound regeneration project to take place on the Alexandra Theatre. Arun District Council leader Shaun Gunner called the deal the ‘next piece of the puzzle’ in the town’s redevelopment, adding: “For the town, this means that the council regains possession of the Regis Centre, and that the money is available for the theatre, so we don't end up making cuts to the project. We want a quality project and quality theatre that Bognor Regis deserves,” he said.

Mr Wadey said he supports regenerating the theatre, but questions if a land-swap was the best way forward: “Yes, The Alexandra Theatre does need some love and attention, and I’m a big supporter of the arts, so I’m all for giving Bognor a nicer, regenerated theatre but I think there are other ways of achieving that without having to sacrifice the heritage and the greenspace.”

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