Battle for Arundel's Town Hall filed under "ended"

Understandably perhaps, Arun is feeling a little uncomfortable after losing its two-year battle to annex a piece of Arundel's heritage.

Thus, in relinquishing its claim to ownership of the Town Hall, it has expressed "disappointment" at the alleged "reluctance" of the town council to provide copies of documents which indicated it had a valid claim to own the Town Hall.

Some observers might see this allegation as a nice try in attempting to switch blame, but it cannot hide the fact that, with all its resources – a sizeable administration backed up by an experienced legal team –

Arun managed to "lose" a letter which exposed the absurdity of its ownership claim.

This crucial document, dated April 5, 1976, was sent by Arun's then chief executive to the then Arundel town clerk, informing him that the finance and general purposes and land sub-committee of the council "have decided that as the ownership of the Town Hall is vested in Arundel Town Council, the Arun District Council should cease to have any direct involvement in or responsibility for the running of these premises with effect from April 1, 1976."

We can but hope that Arun now has a fit-for-purpose records filing system which doesn't rely on its small and less-resourced parish/town councils to provide back-up when it "loses" important public information.