Minutes – Business Plan Sub-Committee – 9 February 2026
The agenda and papers for this meeting are available here: Business Plan Sub-Committee – 9 February 2026 – agenda and papers.
The minutes of this meeting are presented below.
You can also download a PDF copy of the minutes here: Minutes – Business Plan Sub-Committee – 9 February 2026.
BUSINESS PLAN SUB-COMMITTEE
Minutes
Date: Monday 9 February 2026
Time: 10.00am to 11.43am
Location: Council Chamber, The Council House • North Street • Chichester • West Sussex • PO19 1LQ
PRESENT: Councillors C Gershater, Quail, Miall, Loxton, Chant
IN ATTENDANCE: Councillors McHale, Russell
ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: Town Clerk, Deputy Town Clerk, Project Manager
BP2026/1 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
There were none.
BP2026/2 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
There were none.
BP2026/3 MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING
The Sub-Committee APPROVED and signed as a correct record the minutes of the ordinary committee meeting held on the 24 November 2025.
BP2026/4 UPDATE ON ACTIONS FROM PREVIOUS MEETING
The Sub-Committee NOTED the following updates:
- Assess architectural proposals – Florence Park Working Group – COMPLETED.
- Seek formal confirmation from Sea Cadets regarding legacy funding – Project Manager – COMPLETED – Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been signed.
- Identify power sources for Oaklands Park lighting scheme – Project Manager – ON HOLD – pending more information on cycle route.
- Present funding proposal for Chichester Living listings to next Community Affairs and Finance Committee meetings – Project Manager – TO BE COMPLETED.
- Advise e-ink supplier of final deadline for resolving technical issues and consequences if it is not met – Project Manager – SEE UPDATE IN PM REPORT.
- Prepare project timeline showing key decision points in project development process for circulation to members – Project Manager – COMPLETED.
- Prepare template for fortnightly project update report and commence circulating regular reports from 05/12/25 – Project Manager – COMPLETED.
- Establish CIO as a matter of urgency – Project Manager – SOLICITOR HAS BEEN APPOINTED, WORK IN PROGRESS.
- Schedule monthly Finance Committee meetings starting in January 2026 with single item agenda of Community Centre Project. Meetings to take place at 4pm on a Wednesday – COMPLETED.
- Add co-option of Sarah Quail to Finance Committee agenda on 10 December 2025 – COMPLETED.
BP2026/5 PROJECT MANAGERS REPORT
The Sub-Committee considered the Project Managers report and NOTED the following:
Community Centre
Initial designs for the pre-planning application have been received. The seven affected properties in the immediate area have been contacted and responses have been received from three of them.
The designs will be subject to community consultation. A consultation event is planned for the spring, in addition to the planned ward meeting on 13th April. Solicitor has been engaged to provide advice on the management structure of the partnership
vehicle for the building.
We are in discussions with Chichester District Council (CDC) at the moment for a long peppercorn lease on the sea cadet site to allow us to proceed more swiftly with phase 1 outside of the Community Asset Transfer process.
The budget for the proposal is looking very tight – we currently have funding in place to deliver phase one of the scheme. Funding for phase 2 is currently dependent upon securing additional funds. A draft fundraising strategy is currently being developed, which will also consider the most appropriate body to be the lead applicant on each bid.
The sub-committee RESOLVED that the Finance Committee be authorised to approve the next phase of tendering for the design and project management of the build of the centre. The indicative cost for this work is £200K.
Street Lighting Project
New Park Bollards have been vandalised. 4 have currently been removed. Residents report the area is being used for illegal activity and that the bollards have been deliberately targeted to facilitate this. The incidents have been reported to the Police.
The recommendation is that the bollards are replaced with full height 5m columns which will be harder to vandalise. Cost proposals and options are currently being sought for the replacements.
The manufacturer have been contacted regarding the damage to the existing bollards, which were expected to be vandal proof but have not proved durable. The sub committee considered whether the bollards were mis-sold and REQUESTED that
the warranties provided be examined to assess if there was a case to be brought.
The sub-committee REQUESTED that a proposal be brought back to the next meeting outlining different options for providing high level lighting of the path, including solar and mains powered and heritage and non-heritage options.
The sub-committee AGREED that the Oaklands Park scheme would be put on hold until CDC’s plans for a new cycle and footpath in the park had been finalised and vandal resistant solutions had been identified.
The sub committee NOTED that the Oxmarket project was now complete and working as planned and could be signed off.
The sub-committee noted that the lighting in St Pauls Road was still outstanding, however, Minerva Heights Phase 2 was now in progress and an application for change to planning obligations regarding highways was expected, so comments
could be brought forward at this time to try and bring this forward.
E Ink Displays
Trial sites have been installed. A number of issues have been identified postdeployment; the lighting is not working properly at night and the information screens are not updating correctly and pages are taking too long to load.
It is uncertain at this time how much of the information and lighting problems is due to the lack of mobile signal coverage in Chichester. The M&S screen in East Street is the worst affected unit.
The sub-committee suggested that the project should be considered a failure has not delivered what was required or promised by the manufacturer.
The sub-committee REQUESTED that a project evaluation be undertaken, and a recommendation taken to the Finance Committee meeting on 11th March so that a decision can be taken on whether or not to continue the trial.
The sub committee REQUESTED that a paper outlining the future of the event listings be prepared to allow the Community Affairs Committee to consider if they would continue to subscribe to the events feed if the e ink trial is discontinued.
New Staging
The new staging is now in place and has been deployed. Some additional equipment needs have been identified to support different staging configurations e.g. additional low level skirting is needed to support stepped staging configurations and additional boards are needed to support stepped staging. The sub-committee RECOMMENDED that additional boards and skirting be purchased at a cost of up to £1500, to be authorised at the next Finance Committee meeting.
The sub-committee REQUESTED that the PM report be amended to make clear that the Florence Park community centre site selection is complete, not the whole project.
BP2026/6 CAB ADVISOR DATA ANALYSIS
The sub-committee noted the report and that the initial 2-year trial would conclude in September 2026.
They REQUESTED that the Community Affairs Committee assess the trial and prepare a recommendation for the future of the service to be presented to full council on 29 April 2026.
The sub-committee requested that the incremental increases in users of the service be identified to ensure that it has not impacted use at the CDC offices and can demonstrate genuine additionality of new users.
The sub-committee requested that a small working group look at the data and prepare the report – comprised of RM, RC, JK, ST.
BP2026/7 ITEMS FOR NEXT AGENDA
- PM’s report.
BP2026/8 DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Date of next ordinary meeting: Monday 18 May 2026 – 10.00am
BP2026/9 PUBLIC SECTOR BODIES (ADMISSION TO MEETINGS) ACT 1960
The sub-committee RESOLVED that the public and press be excluded from this meeting for Agenda Item BP2026/10 due to the confidential nature of the business to be transacted namely financial and business affairs of third parties.
BP2026/10 COMMUNITY SPACE IN THE SOUTH
The sub-committee discussed the future tender process for the Community Space in the South of the City, including project management of the build process.
The Sub-Committee RECOMMENDED that professional advice be sought on how to proceed with the procurement of services a for design and build, that the Project Manager be tasked with contacting Hampshire County Council Procurement Services
and that a report be brought to the next meeting for consideration.
The meeting closed at 11:43am