Apology over furore at Pagham meeting

Cllr Bill Acraman penned the words of apology for his handling of the last meeting of the Pagham Harbour local nature reserve.

His conciliatory words were acknowledged at last week's meeting of Pagham Parish Council. Writing to parish council chairman Cllr Ray Radmall, Cllr Bill Acraman stated: 'I would like to apologise to you for any dissatisfaction you may feel for the conduct of the Pagham Harbour local nature reserve advisory board on July 15.

'The public participation section of the meeting was very difficult to control, with people insisting on debating matters that do not fall directly under the management of the local nature reserve.

'To accommodate this, I allowed the public participation section to go on for too long with the result that the meeting got somewhat out of control and tempers became frayed on both sides.'

But his comments failed to satisfy Cllr Radmall. He said he believed Cllr Acraman handled the advisory board's meeting poorly.

'There are a number of people not very happy with the way the situation has been dealt with.

'I feel the county council was effectively damaged by what went on in that meeting.

'When you take on a chairmanship, you take on the responsibility of projecting the image of a council. You have to listen to people and maintain a general area of reasonableness,' he commented.

The furore at the meeting arose because of the concerns of residents, mainly from Pagham Beach, that the nature reserve would take precedence over work to bolster their eroding coastline.

About 20 of them turned up for the advisory board meeting at the Inglenook Hotel only to be informed by its chairman, Cllr Acraman, that they could not raise the issue because it was outside the board's remit. This attitude triggered stormy scenes.

Cllr Radmall continued: 'Support for the nature reserve among local people is being eroded.

'It's such a sad thing that they feel the nature reserve is an encumbrance to a proper standard of sea defence work.

'I would like to see that change, that some bold move will come from the county council the impression that local people seem to have.

A letter from George Gray, of Harbour Road, was read out to parish councillors to state his dissatisfaction with the outcome of the county council's hearing into Cllr Acraman's behaviour.

'We feel that the local people who made the effort to attend the meeting on July 15 feel that what occurred has brought the county council into disrepute.

"For that meeting showed that the county council hold the problems of Pagham flooding in scant regard and seems to reflect a lost cause in their eyes."

A county council spokesman said the matter of Cllr Acraman's behaviour at the advisory board had been formally considered by the council.

"The standards sub committee, which was chaired by someone independent of the county council, did not find any breach of the member code of conduct in this case but noted Cllr Acraman's intention to send letters of apology to people who had been upset by how he had chaired the Pagham meeting in July," he stated.

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