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Minutes – Finance Committee – 9 July 2025

The agenda and papers for this meeting are available here: Finance Committee – 9 July 2025 – agenda and papers

The minutes of this meeting are presented below.

You can also download a PDF copy of the minutes here: Minutes – Finance Committee – 9 July 2025

FINANCE COMMITTEE

Minutes

Date: 9 July 2025

Time: 5.30pm to 6.17pm

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

PRESENT: Councillors Miall (RMi), Loxton (SL) and Pramas (LP) (from 5.33pm)

EX-OFFICIO: The Mayor, Councillor McHale (SMc)

ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: Town Clerk (TC), Deputy Town Clerk/Responsible Finance Officer (DTC), Council Services and Support Manager (CSSM)

1. ELECTION OF CHAIR FOR 2025-2026

Proposed by SL, seconded by SMc and RESOLVED that Councillor Miall be elected as Chair of the Finance Committee for the Council year 2025-2026.

2. APPOINTMENT OF VICE-CHAIR FOR 2025-2026

Proposed by RM, seconded by SL and RESOLVED that Councillor Scicluna be appointed as Vice-Chair of the Finance Committee for the Council year 2025-2026.

3. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Committee NOTED apologies for absence received prior to the meeting from Councillor Scicluna.

Councillor Squire was absent.

4. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST BY MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE IN MATTERS ON THE AGENDA FOR THIS MEETING

None.

5. FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING DAYS AND TIMES

Members AGREED that the meeting days be as published with meeting times remaining at 5.30pm.

6. SUB-COMMITTEES AND WORKING GROUPS REPORTING TO THE FINANCE COMMITTEE

AGREED to appoint Members to the Sub-Committees as listed in the report distributed with the agenda, namely:

Personnel

  • Cllr Judy Gershater
  • Cllr Louise Pramas
  • Cllr Anne Scicluna
  • Cllr Ken Squire

Property

  • Cllr Anne Scicluna
  • Cllr Clare Apel
  • Cllr Ann Butler
  • Cllr Stuart Loxton
  • Cllr Robert Miall
  • Cllr Sarah Quail

Business Plan

  • Cllr Robert Miall
  • Cllr Rhys Chant
  • Cllr Craig Gershater
  • Cllr Stuart Loxton
  • Cllr Sarah Quail
  • Cllr Ken Squire

Committee NOTED that the membership of the Personnel Sub-Committee may be subject to change at their first meeting.

7. MINUTES OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON 2 APRIL 2025 AND NOTES OF THE INQUORATE MEETING HELD ON 18 JUNE 2025

The Chair initialled the correction to the typing error in minute 104 of the minutes of the meeting held on 2 April 2025.

Further to the correction to the typing error, Committee APPROVED and the Chair signed as a correct record the minutes of the Finance Committee meeting held on 2 April 2025.

Members received the notes of the inquorate meeting that took place on 18 June 2025.

8. UPDATES ON ACTIONS FROM THE PREVIOUS MINUTES NOT COVERED ELSEWHERE ON THE AGENDA

a) Minute 102 – Implement the E-Display project and place orders for the installation of the trial display units

Members NOTED that no further updates were available at this time.

b) Minute 103 – Initiate the application for Chichester City Council to join the Viv-up staff benefits scheme.

Committee NOTED that the Viv-up scheme was now live and accessible for Officers.

c) Minute 104 – Action the Committee’s decisions in respect of twinning association budgets and earmarked reserves

NOTED that this had been completed.

d) Minute 105 – Conduct a review of Council House expenditure and identify the various cost categories

Members NOTED that this was in progress and currently being worked on by the Property Sub-Committee.

e) Minute 105 – Investigate availability of heritage grants for works on the Council House

Committee NOTED that contact had been made with the Lottery Heritage Fund and that a webinar was being arranged that the Town Clerk and Deputy Town Clerk would be attending.

f) Minute 105 – Investigate listing the Council House with filming location agencies

NOTED that the Council House had been registered as a filming location with Sussex Film Office.

LP asked that the Council House be nominated for inclusion on the new Chichester Monopoly board.

g) Minute 111 – Put in place processes for better control and oversight of suitable indemnities for contractors undertaking work on behalf of the City Council

NOTED that this was currently in progress.

h) Minute 111 – Review the risk assessment statements and allocate risks according to the Committee or Sub-Committee responsibility for each area of activity

Committee NOTED that this was in progress and would be completed ready for the next annual risk assessment review at the Finance Committee meeting in February 2026.

i) Minute 112 – Assess current Councillor laptops for suitability for effective participation in hybrid meetings

Members NOTED that initial testing had taken place which had indicated that a hardware review of all Councillor laptops may be necessary but that a more thorough test would be undertaken when the new hybrid meeting system had been installed.

Committee asked if it would be possible to take advantage of contracts/rates which were negotiated by other local government organisations in the area.

The Committee NOTED the possible financial implications of having to upgrade councillor hardware and that there was not yet a date for when the legislations would be laid down in law.

Members agreed that, should the extended testing prove the need for laptop upgrades, it may not be necessary to upgrade all Councillors hardware at the same time as Member requirements to attend virtually or physically would vary by individual.

Committee was reminded that, while consideration of Councillors’ ability to join hybrid meetings via Teams was important, the new hybrid system had been purchased to allow the public to join City Council meetings as well.

j) Minute 112 – Ensure that any proposed hybrid meeting system would be capable of streaming meetings to non-participant attendees via a suitable streaming platform.

NOTED that the supplier had confirmed that this would be possible and that specifics of how it would work in practice would be demonstrated during training on the new system.

k) Minute 113 – Arrange a training/briefing session for interested Councillors to talk through standing orders and enable them to better understand the process and the changes being made.

NOTED that this had been completed on 30 April 2025 and was attended by Councillors Apel, Corfield, C Gershater, J Gershater, Kondabeka, McHale, Miall, Quail and Squire.

Officers present were the Town Clerk, Council Services and Support Manager and Communications and Civic Support Officer.

9. PROPERTY SUB-COMMITTEE

The Committee NOTED the minutes of the Property Sub-Committee meeting held on 27 May 2025.

10. PERSONNEL SUB-COMMITTEE

Members NOTED that the minutes had not yet been published and receipt of the minutes was deferred to the September 2025 meeting.

11. BUSINESS PLAN SUB-COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON 25 MARCH 2025

The Committee NOTED the minutes of the Business Plan Sub-Committee meeting held on 28 May 2025.

12. COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE LEVY (CIL) UPDATE

The Committee noted the CIL update and the potential for slippage in the cashflow forecast for both income and expenditure which may affect phasing of future projects.

Members discussed how best to utilise Council investments and reserves to help cover any phasing difficulties in project delivery and CIL expenditure and receipts.

13. REVIEW OF PROPERTY AND ASSETS

NOTED that the review of property and assets would be deferred to the September meeting of the Finance Committee to allow for the upload of asset records to the new database.

14. SUBSISTENCE ALLOWANCES

RESOLVED to adopt the revised subsistence allowances based on the Chichester District Council allowances as agreed in April 2025.

15. MEETING MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

Committee discussed the TC’s report and asked Officers to clarify some points about the functionality of the proposed system.

RESOLVED to proceed to purchase the GovMeetings software from CloudyIT at a year one cost of £5,740, ongoing cost of £2,490, to be paid from the IT budget.

Committee REQUESTED that a report be brought back to Committee once the system had been implemented to show if the anticipated productivity gains and freeing up of resources had been realised.

16. ITEMS FOR INCLUSION ON THE NEXT AGENDA

  • New Park Centre update
  • Investments
  • Budget 2026-2027

17. DATE OF NEXT ORDINARY MEETING

DATE OF NEXT ORDINARY MEETING – Wednesday 17 September 2025 at 5.30pm

The meeting closed at 6.17pm

ACTIONS ARISING FROM THIS MEETING

Minute ref.ActionAssigned to
8fSubmit suggestion that the Council House be included on the new Chichester Monopoly board.Town Clerk
8iInvestigate possibility of taking advantage of joint contracts/rates with local organisations for the purchase of new IT equipment.Town Clerk/Council Services and Support Manager
8iArrange Teams testing with a group of Councillors to confirm suitability of existing laptops for hybrid meetings.Council Services and Support Manager.
12Review current City Council investment in the CCLA Local Authorities Property fund and assess suitability of newly launched hybrid investment fundDeputy Town Clerk
15Place order for GovMeetings softwareCouncil Services and Support Manager.
15Compile report assessing productivity gains and freeing up of resources following the implementation of the GovMeeting software.Town Clerk
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