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Minutes – Full Council (Extra ordinary meeting) – 8 August 2025

The agenda and papers for this meeting are available here: Full Council (Extra Ordinary meeting) – 8 August 2025 – agenda and papers

The minutes of this meeting are presented below.

You can also download a PDF copy of the minutes here: Minutes – Full Council (Extra Ordinary meeting) – 8 August 2025

EXTRA ORDINARY MEETING OF COUNCIL

Minutes

Date: 8 August 2025

Time: 5.30pm – 6.42pm

Location: The Council Chamber – The Council House • North Street • CHICHESTER • West Sussex • PO19 1LQ

PRESENT: The Mayor, Councillor McHale (SMc), the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Vivian (JV), Councillors Apel (CA), Butler (AB), Chant (RC), Corfield (MC), C Gershater (CG), J Gershater (JG), Knight (SK), Kondabeka (JK), Loxton (SL), Miall (RMi), and Scicluna (AS).

ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: Town Clerk (TC), Deputy Town Clerk (DTC), Council Services and Support Manager (CSSM), Chichester District Councillor Jonathan Brown (JB), one member of the public

38. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies were noted from Councillors Moore, Quail, Russell and Squire.

Councillor Pramas was absent.

39. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST BY MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL IN MATTERS ARISING ON THE AGENDA FOR THIS MEETING

No declarations were made.

40. LOCAL GOVERNMENT DEVOLUTION IN ENGLAND

Council considered the outlined options being consulted on (single unitary for the whole of West Sussex, or a two unitary model (v1 or v2)) and AGREED the following responses to the questionnaire:

Q7 – Council preferred Option 2, v1 (two unitary authorities with Chichester being combined with Arun and Worthing) for the reasons that it would better represent residents and the differing needs of rural and urban communities.

Q8 – Strongly agree.

Q9 – Disagree

Q10 – Yes

Q11 – Council identified the following potential benefits as being most important:

  • Easier and quicker access to services – N
  • Clearer understanding of who is responsible for what – Y
  • More joined up services that work better together – Y
  • Better quality services for residents – N
  • A stronger sense of local identity and pride – N
  • More coordinated strategic planning and infrastructure decisions – Y
  • Strengthened community connections and support networks – N
  • A stronger voice for West Sussex in national decisions – N
  • More ways for residents to get involved in shaping services and decision making – N
  • More support for the local economy – N
  • Improved access to funding opportunities – N
  • Other:

Council requested that the response include a paragraph highlighting that the questions were too vague to be able to meaningfully respond to, given the information provided at this stage. It is also not clear what the information being collected will be used for or how it will be represented.

Q12 – Council identified the following risks:

Council agreed to tick all of the boxes except that “I do not have any concerns”.

Q13 – Council identified the following services as most likely to benefit from LGR:

  • Environmental health & licensing
  • Planning & development
  • Public Health
  • Waste & recycling collections and street cleansing
  • Waste management (recycling centres and waste processing)

Council requested that the response include a paragraph highlighting that the question was not factually correct as it included a number of discretionary services that cannot be guaranteed. Council reiterated their concerns regarding the proscriptive nature of the survey which did not leave space for stakeholders to meaningfully engage with their concerns.

  • Yes to stay informed
  • Yes to participate in future discussions and workshops

SK and JB left the meeting at 18:22

41. COMMUNITY ASSET TRANSFERS

Council considered the Town Clerk’s report regarding Community Asset Transfers (CATs) from Chichester District Council (CDC) and RESOLVED to submit an expression of interest to CDC for land at Florence Park.

Council RESOLVED to set aside funds in the budget over the next two years to create a reserve for CATs in the future, with the exact amounts to be decided by the Finance Committee during the budget setting process.

Council RESOLVED that CATs should be actively monitored and Council should be prepared to act quickly to submit a competing bid if it was thought that an asset would be best served by the stewardship of the City Council.

Council AGREED that Councillors would review the list of assets on the CDC list to identify the assets that they thought should be owned by the City Council and to submit them to the Devolution Working Group for further consideration.

42. COMMON SEAL

RESOLVED that the Common Seal be affixed to any documents necessary to give effect to the resolutions passed at this meeting.

DATE OF NEXT ORDINARY MEETING: 24 September 2025 at 6.00pm

The meeting closed at 6.42pm

ACTIONS ARISING FROM THIS MEETING

Minute ref.ActionAssigned to:
40Submit City Council responses to Local Government Devolution engagement formTown Clerk
41Review CDC list of potential Chichester community assets for transferAll City Councillors
42Call a meeting of the Devolution Working Group to review Councillor community asset proposals and compile the City Council’s preferred list.Town Clerk
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