Site of a new eating place in a Bognor Regis park is chosen as volunteers continue their campaign

Cllr Gillian Brown, Arun District Council’s leader, said the location for the park’s first indoor dining experience was the best.

But park volunteers have continued to campaign for the site to be switched closer to the park lodge or for the public to choose the location.

Cllr Mrs Brown said this week: “We believe the selected site for a new restaurant will help to encourage active use of Hotham Park as a whole.

“It will also enable more events to be held around this new restaurant location and for other parts of the park to be preserved as quieter, wildlife conservation areas.

“Though no single location may be perfect for the new restaurant, the one selected in our view has the most merit and the least drawbacks.

“The location for the new facility has been established and accepted for many years.” It also had mains services, she stated.

But Hotham Park Heritage Trust vice-chairman Rosemary Warren said the council was wrong to stick to a decision made in 2007 when the current park layout was still being created.

“The trust is very supportive of the proposal to have a permanent cafe, with indoor seating, in the park.

“But it should not be built beyond the bollards at the carriage yard junction,” she said.

This was due to the risk to children from delivery vehicles for the cafe, the lack of traffic control in the park, the use of part of the new events area used for community picnics and its distance from the lodge car park for disabled visitors.

She asked those with a view about the cafe to write to the trust’s secretary, The Lodge, Hotham Park, Bognor Regis, PO21 1HN, or visit www.hothamparkheritage trust.co.uk

The cafe’s likely operator is Pistachios in the Park.