Sunday Newsletter
Seven information requests refused—and the public-money questions that remain
Adur & Worthing Councils have refused seven WATCH Sussex information requests collectively on administrative-burden grounds.
That is this week’s most important transparency development. It does not answer the underlying questions, but nor does it prove that information is being concealed.
WATCH will now narrow, prioritise and sequence its requests rather than simply resubmitting them.
Seven requests refused
The council’s letter, dated 17 September, covers requests concerning:
Southwick Beach
Old Barn Way Community Sports Hub
Albion Street
Southwick’s empty council homes
Southwick Estate regeneration
Two Montague Gardens requests
The council relied on section 14(1) of the Freedom of Information Act and/or regulation 12(4)(b) of the Environmental Information Regulations. It said the requests predominantly affected one team and would require significant work to locate, examine, extract and redact information.
What this establishes: the council has formally refused the requests because of their collective burden.
What it does not establish: that the council has disproved the public-interest questions, or that it is concealing wrongdoing.
WATCH will use published documents first, concentrate on the most important unresolved issue and seek proportionate refinement or review where justified.
The contract trail becomes clearer
Separate public records have added firm contract reference points to three investigations.
Adur & Worthing Councils’ September contract register records:
Albion Street completion contract: £1,739,438 excluding VAT
Montague Place Gardens: £1,689,585.65 excluding VAT
Southwick Voids: £1,200,000 excluding VAT
All three entries record an invitation-to-tender process.
These are registered contract values—not final project bills. They do not establish overspending, misconduct, the number of bids received or how those bids were evaluated.
For Albion Street, the £1.739 million entry is only one part of a much wider cost and responsibility trail. Read the full contract-register analysis.
Queen’s Park: five candidates, one seat
The Queen’s Park by-election takes place on Thursday 24 September, with polling from 7am to 10pm.
WATCH has now published an evidence record covering all five candidates and their publicly available answers and positions.
Only Liberal Democrat candidate Rudi Dikty-Daudiyan returned WATCH’s questionnaire directly. His completed answers to all 24 questions arrived on 15 September, after the editorial deadline, and were published in full.
For the other candidates, WATCH has used clearly attributed public material. We do not claim that every candidate personally received the questionnaire, and silence is not treated as a policy position.
WATCH does not rank or endorse candidates. Read the Queen’s Park Election Watch.
Wellington House: the 59-to-zero question
Brighton & Hove councillors agreed on 17 September to close Wellington House, the council-run day centre currently supporting 21 adults with learning disabilities.
Council records show that 59 new day-opportunity placements were commissioned across 2024/25 and 2025/26. None went to Wellington House.
That does not prove referrals were deliberately withheld to justify closure. It creates a clear accountability question:
Was Wellington House open to new referrals during those two years—and, if so, why did none of the 59 placements go there?
WATCH has asked the council to explain. No substantive answer has yet been supplied.
The council says closure will occur only after individual transition arrangements are completed and suitable alternative provision is secured. Those safeguards should now be tracked against what happens in practice. Background and published figures.
What WATCH is waiting for
We are awaiting:
Jeremy Gardner’s response and the promised later Albion Street report.
Brighton & Hove City Council’s explanation of the Wellington House referral figures.
Confirmation of what scrutiny followed the July WellBN/HOSC discussion.
West Sussex records concerning Growth Deals and Growing Sussex 5G, currently due on 28 September.
Brighton & Hove’s Sussex bus-reform response, expected by 1 October.
Adur & Worthing’s Southwick/Shoreham Harbour odour response, due by 7 October.
Records concerning The Gardens EV chargepoint and the replacement Adur/Joint Local Plan work.
Acknowledgements prove receipt only. None is being described as a substantive answer.
Credit where due
Rudi Dikty-Daudiyan supplied full answers to WATCH’s Queen’s Park questionnaire despite replying after the deadline.
Publishing those answers is not an endorsement. It gives voters more material against which to assess his candidacy and any future commitments.
Next week
Albion Street will be the primary investigation.
Queen’s Park moves into its final pre-poll stage, while Wellington House remains focused on the referral decision and the promised safeguards for current users.
Evidence first. Claims clearly attributed. Corrections made openly.