Angmering housing fears loom over village by-election

The by-election for an Arun District Council seat will be as hotly contested as Angmerings conker competition

And with future housing development the hot topic in the village, it’s also likely to be a major issue during the campaign, leading up to the poll on April 18.

The Conservatives will be fighting to hold onto the seat vacated following the death in January of councillor Julie Hazlehurst.

Unable to find an Angmering resident to stand, the Tories had to look to Rustington for candidate Andy Cooper. He is the current chairman of Rustington Parish Council and a former chairman of the village’s Chamber of Trade and Commerce, and runs a sportswear and leisure shop in Littlehampton.

When elected onto the parish council in 2009, he stood on a non-political ticket as the “Keep Rustington Council Independent” candidate, saying: “I want the best for this community. Politics or anything else doesn’t come into it, whether someone is Conservative, Labour or Liberal Democrat. For me, it’s about wanting to do what is good for the area and the people.”

Mr Cooper, who was born in Angmering, comes out strongly against “unsustainable development in Angmering” in his election leaflet, at a time when the controlling Conservative group on Arun looks set to impose a housebuilding target of about 500 homes in the village, in its local plan.

He will face a familiar rival in another Rustington parish councillor, Liberal Democrat Jamie Bennett, who contested the by-election in 2009 which Mr Cooper won.

Mr Bennett was soon voted onto the parish council, however, although his party political stance caused ripples with some councillors who declared themselves to be independent.

Labour’s Carly Godwin is the only one of the three hopefuls living in Angmering. A former Labour Party intern, she is vice-chairman of the Angmering and South Downs Constituency Labour Party and describes herself on her twitter account as “an advocate for SEN (special educational needs) support and understanding, especially ADHD”. She lives on the Bramley Green estate.

At the Arun elections in May, 2011, the Conservatives comfortably held all three Angmering seats.