Trippers trash our seafront

It was the second time in three years that the group of Sierra Leonean community organisations and churches from London had left the beach covered from end to end in rubbish, including some broken glass.

In August, 2002, the Sierra Leonean High Commission in London apologised to Littlehampton residents for the mess left behind and paid 100 towards the clean-up costs, although it had been asked by Arun District Council for 1,000.

Now Arun is set to chase the party organisers again for the latest litter clearance, which is also likely to be in the region of 1,000.

The council was contacted by the Fourah Bay Foulah Town Collective, a community group from London, to say they would be coming to Littlehamp-ton on August 6 with about 700 people.

The collective also warned that other groups and individuals who were not linked to it would be coming down on the same day.

Nearly 80 coaches were crammed into the coach parking spaces in Banjo Road and an overflow area near Mewsbrook Park.

Barbecues were set up on the seafront, music was played and some of the church groups baptised members in the sea.

As the last of the visitors left after dark at around 10pm, the council's refuse contractor Verdant could not start the clean-up until Sunday morning.

At 6.30am a team of litter pickers from Verdant were on the beach and had totally cleared it by 9.30am.

Mick Gumble, project manager for Verdant, said: "We were warned by Arun that the party was taking place but the numbers were not reported properly.

"We put down extra black bags and several wheelie bins onto the seafront but they weren't really used, which was a disappointment because people had just used the black bags and dumped them on the beach."

Colin Rogers, Arun's director of services, said: "We welcome responsible visitors to the town and would obviously prefer it if irresponsible ones stayed away.

"We have had some letters and phone calls from Littlehampton residents saying that they are upset about the use of The Green by these people, which stops residents using it.

"But relatively speaking we have had very few complaints. The town seems to have been very accommodating."

Arun councillor Mark Butler raised the issue of charging visitors to set up a party on The Green, as other organisations had to.

He said: "It concerns me that local people who want to put on events for local groups and charities have to pay through the nose to do so by going through the Arun events team. But to have that many people coming and staging an event and not paying anything is a bit unfair to say the least.

"There was a ludicrous amount of rubbish left on the beach and lots of people were using the bushes as toilets.

"I don't want to stop encouraging people from coming to Littlehampton but somewhere along the line we need to have some rules and regulations."

Steve Tester, duty manager at the Windmill pub, said that his trade had been affected as customers stayed away for the day, but not all seafront businesses were angry at the visitors.

Gary Smart, manager of Harbour Park, said: "I think they were very well behaved, very polite. We didn't have a single problem with them.

"They didn't spend much money on catering because they brought it all themselves, but they spent money on the rides and in the shops.

"I heard that the beach was in a mess but if you get that many people down here then you have to expect some litter."

But while complaints were made about the litter left behind, there were no complaints about noise or other disturbance from the public, and police reported no problems.

Arun chief executive Ian Sumnall said: "While we always welcome visitors to our town it was extremely disappointing that they left the beach badly littered.

"I will be reviewing the situation with managers this week, in particular to determine if any enforcement action such as billing the group for the cost of litter removal is appropriate.

"However, I am grateful to Verdant for providing a team of operatives who did a superb job cleaning up the beach ready for our visitors on Sunday and to Arun's foreshore staff who had an extremely difficult job to do on Saturday, which they carried out very well."