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Every person who sleeps rough on the streets of Bognor Regis and Littlehampton has been offered a roof over their heads during the Covid-19 crisis – and almost all have accepted.

Dr James Walsh, leader of Arun District Council, said he was ‘pleased and encouraged’ by the news because some of the people who accepted help had refused it on other occasions.

While he couldn’t give exact numbers, Dr Walsh said a 90 per cent take-up was expected.

Like every council up and down the country, Arun has been trying to keep open as many services as possible.

Arun District Council leader James Walsh

Some 75 per cent of the staff have been working from home and were, said Dr Walsh, coping ‘extraordinarily well’.

He added that, by and large, the vast majority of the public had been ‘very patient, understanding and there’s been very little confrontation’.

Dr Walsh thanked everyone in the Arun district for ‘largely observing the social distancing and other rules and for ceasing to panic buy – which was always unnecessary but clearly is now even more so’.

Arun residents thanked for ‘patience and understanding’ during lockdown