Councillor Wendy Eve, Mayor of Arundel, has resigned from Arundel Town Council. Her resignation followed an Extra-Ordinary meeting of the council on Thursday 6th March, when the council voted by 8 votes to 2 votes, with one abstention, to proceed to appoint an Arundel Town Manager. This initiative, for which the council had made budgetary provision in January 2020, was one with which Councillor Eve personally disagreed.
Wendy Eve had been an Arundel councillor for 36 years and this was the fifth time that she had been Mayor. The council have accepted her resignation with regret and have thanked her for her sterling service to the town over so many years.
Town Manager will be a new role in Arundel, and is intended to support the council in pursuing the goal defined in its 2020 Mission Statement:
“To work creatively and closely with the community to make Arundel a thriving town in which to live and work, and a great place to visit”
The Town Manager will have two principal responsibilities. The first is to support the voluntary groups who organise events in Arundel. This task is particularly important in 2020 because there is a new £20,000 budget available, jointly funded by Arundel Town Council and Arun District Council, which is intended to help community organisations organise new events in the town. The second area of responsibility is to contribute to the economic sustainability of the town, encouraging the kind of visitors who will most appreciate what Arundel has to offer and who will bring value to the town. This will include developing the appeal of the Arundel Farmer’s Market, for which the council will assume responsibility in April. The Town Manager will also be exploring the many grants, large and small, that are available for regeneration initiatives in heritage towns, so that the Neighbourhood Plan can be properly implemented.
Former Arundel Mayor, James Stewart, who played a major part in preparing the 2018-2036 Neighbourhood Plan, which was approved with very positive input by the external examiner, has commented that he believes that the appointment of a Town Manager is an essential step in implementing the plan. Going back over decades Arundel Town Council has had good plans and intentions, but has previously lacked the resources to make thing happen.
A full job description for the Town Manager position and information on how to apply will be posted on the Arundel Town Council website in the near future.
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