Battle begins to rescue Littlehampton town show

With this year’s Littlehampton Town Show set to be the last of its kind, after Conservative town councillors vowed to split it from the Family Fun Day – which it has been partnered with for more than a decade – determined Labour councillors launched a campaign in a bid to reverse the decision.

Ham Ward councillor Mike Northeast, along with other Labour town councillors, started the Don’t Split the Town Show campaign, in High Street Littlehampton, which saw hundreds of signatures collected during their time in the street.

Mr Northeast said: “The reason we are having to do this is because the ruling Conservatives on the town council seem hell bent on destroying an event which is dear to the hearts of the thousands of local residents whose attendance is increasing year-on-year and it would be a social tragedy to lose it.

“We had an excellent response from people in the town, who were queuing up to sign our petition before we had even set up stall and averaged just over a hundred signatures an hour.”

Costs

Mr Northeast was joined by town show manager Alan Humphries, of the Littlehampton Allotment and Leisure Gardens Association – which regularly features at the show – as well as local campaigner George O’Neill.

The decision to move the event to the new Southfield Jubilee Centre, from 2013, was made at a meeting earlier this month. Councillors also decided that the Family Fun Day would be held three weeks earlier, at the Rosemead Open Space.

At the meeting, Mr Humphries warned that the horticultural show would not be able to fit in the new centre.

But Conservative Alan Gammon, chairman of the community resources committee which recommended splitting the events, explained the decision arose from the need to reduce their costs.

During this month’s meeting, he proposed a further amendment to move the show to the new Southfields centre, subject to it being considered a satisfactory venue on its completion.

However, Mr Northeast said that this was not good enough.

“We are determined to show that this is an ill thought out, illogical cut to something the town’s residents hold dear to their heart,” he said.

“This campaign is here to show the ruling Conservatives on the town council the depth of feeling there is in Littlehampton and to get them to think again and drop the idea.”