Shaun Gunner - Conservative Leader on Arun District Council

14/05/2026

Seems to be a couple of Reform councillors missing. I wonder why 🤔https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18iSYYVmyA/

Meet your new Reform UK West Sussex County Councillors! 🩵🇬🇧

We will be working hard to hold the coalition of chaos with Labour, Green, Lib Dem and an independent to account.

13/05/2026

Says it all about Arun District Council. Struggling businesses, failing housing service, and more - yet the Council is meeting this evening and is doing nothing.

"There are no items for this meeting."

A do-nothing Council led by a coalition of Labour, Liberal Democrats and Greens. They obviously take their lead from a do-nothing Prime Minister.

07/05/2026

Why I'm voting for Cllr Alison Cooper

I have known Alison for nearly a decade and we have served together as district councillors for Rustington East for 7 years. And she is one of the best councillors I have ever met.

🏠 She lives here, runs her business here, has been Chair of Rustington Parish Council and there are few people with roots as deep in Rustington Village as Alison.

🫂 She cares. She diligently deals with all casework - much more than most other councillors - working to resolve any issues as best as possible. She cares deeply about the wellbeing of the village - ensuring it's a nice place to live - and, more importantly, the wellbeing of its residents.

✅ She knows what matters to residents. When we first got elected we campaigned on getting the A259 at Roundstone dualled. We worked together to stop the beach huts on Rustington seafront. Rustington has got new toilets, new play equipment and more thanks to her work - that's what you want from a councillor. Alison has even secured the resurfacing of Worthing Road this summer!

🏥 Alison and I have been working with Cllr Andy Cooper and Alison Griffiths MP and others on the future of Zachary Merton. As a team we have taken the fight to the NHS, at the county council and even to the Government. Rustington and the wider area needs more health facilities, not less, and that is something that Alison is fighting for - fighting with action rather than just warm words.

Having lived here my whole life, I am proud to call Alison a friend and casting my vote for her today was voting for someone with experience, capability, dedication and passion for our village.

I cannot recommend Alison enough. There would be no better representative for Rustington than Alison - please cast your vote for her.

29/10/2025

Remember.

08/07/2025

𝗡𝗛𝗦 𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗭𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗠𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗼𝗻

Today, the Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust has announced that the Zachary Merton Community Hospital will not reopen. As a local councillor, I have been working with Cllr Alison Cooper to fight this outcome and ensure residents' voices were heard.

Unfortunately this outcome was grimly predictable and yet there are still big questions to answer.

The Trust have not said what will happen to the site. I know there are others who want it sold for flats to fund a new hospital in Littlehampton. But, the Government this week announced in its 10 year plan that it wanted to shift care into neighbourhood health centres. This seems the perfect site to me, and with Arun District Council having accrued millions in developer contributions for the NHS, there could be money available.

The Trust took over the building in 2022 and yet by 2023 it had to close urgently with £8 million of repairs needed. Considering this was apparently unexpected, there needs to be an investigation of both the current and previous trust into what due diligence was done at the point of transfer, and what management and maintenance had been carried out on the building. It does not speak well of the NHS's ability to manage property that this building had so many huge problems that no one apparently knew about.

The NHS has one again proven it is unable or unwilling to engage with the public. The Trust doesn't have a single governor from the Arun area. This speaks to a broader problem in the NHS (and indeed in other public services) of a lack of democratic control and responsiveness. The NHS needs to explain how it will meaningfully engage and listen with local residents - and the Friends of Zachary Merton - in shaping what comes next.

You can read their statement here: https://www.sussexcommunity.nhs.uk/news/trust-news/zachary-merton-hospital-next-steps

23/06/2025

Rustington is getting national attention today, with JOE.co.uk coming to the village to interview residents. Do you agree with this video and the comments from residents? https://youtu.be/dpp-oV7I1Ik

Almost a quarter of young people are dissatisfied with life in the U.K. 1 in 8 aren’t in education or employment and many who are still can’t afford to move ...

01/04/2025

When the Liberal Democrats try to make out that they are a serious party of government... their leader does this to encourage people to vote for them. Embarrassing.

31/03/2025

𝗟𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗹 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗳𝘁; 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗹 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 - 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘄𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗟𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗿?

Bin bags in Labour-run Birmingham are piling high on the left, whilst in Conservative-run Bromsgrove on the right council services are running as they should. In Sussex, we've seen the same in Brighton & Hove under both Labour and the Greens.

Arun currently has a Labour-Liberal Democrat-Green-Independent coalition running the Council. If you vote LibDem, Green or Independent you risk more Labour. Only the Conservatives can beat Labour, as we saw at last year's general election.

So if you live in Marine ward, when the by-election comes on 24 April, remember what's at stake with your vote.

30/03/2025

Happy Mother's Day! 💐❤️

Today we celebrate all the amazing mothers out there - their unconditional love, selflessness and unwavering support has made us all who we are today.

24/03/2025

More job losses in Arun thanks to the Labour government. And what will Arun Labour and their LibDem coalition partners do? Absolutely nothing.

The closures are expected to take place over the next few months, leaving hundreds of jobs at risk.