Nick Gibb met residents and councillors this week to discuss their concerns about the future of Elms Farm.
Elms Farm is owned by West Sussex County Council but, since at least the 1940s, has been leased as a small holding. Following the death of the current tenant farmer, Mr Redman, the Council has put the tenancy out for tender, but without the associated farm house and farm buildings.
Residents are concerned that the new tenancy may result in changes to the character of the farm and Ancton Lane, which is still a country lane.
Nick Gibb told the Bognor Regis Observer: “There is obviously a lot of anxiety locally about the future of Elms Farm and West Sussex County Council’s decision to split the farm from the farm buildings in the new tenancy. Ancton Lane still has the characteristics of a country lane which people from Middleton value. It is important that West Sussex understand the importance of the area as rural and do not take decisions that undermine this local amenity.”
Photo: Simon Warde (local resident), Nick Gibb MP, Shirley Haywood (Middleton Parish Council Chairman), Joe Lake (Middleton Parish Council Clerk)