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Minutes – Full Council – 17 December 2025

The agenda and papers for this meeting are available here: Full Council – 17 December 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 – 24 September 2025

Papers received after publication of the agenda for circulation with the minutes (PDF download only):

MEETING OF COUNCIL

Minutes

Date: 17 December 2025

Time: 6.00pm – 8.51pm

Location: The Assembly Room – The Council House • North Street • CHICHESTER • West Sussex • PO19 1LQ (NOTE: the meeting was moved due to heat issues in the Council Chamber)

PRESENT: Councillors C Gershater (CG), Vivian (JV), Butler (AB), Miall (RMi), Apel (CA), Loxton (SL), J Gershater (JG), Chant (RC), Knight (SK), McHale (SMH), Kondabeka (JK), Pramas (LP), Russell (NR), Moore (RMo) (from 6.50pm)

ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: Town Clerk, Deputy Town Clerk, West Sussex County Councillors Hunt (North Division), Oakley (East Division) and Sharp (South Division), Chichester District Councillor Brown (North Ward).

COUNCIL2025/19 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies had been received from Cllr Corfield, Quail and Scicluna.

Cllr Moore advised he would arrive late.

COUNCIL2025/20 DISPENSATION REQUESTS

None had been received.

COUNCIL2025/21 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

RC declared a personal relationship with art and science award nominee Chichester CAN

CA declared a familial relationship with a civic award nominee

COUNCIL2025/22 PUBLIC QUESTIONS

None had been received.

COUNCIL2025/23 MAYOR’S ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Mayor thanked everyone for helping to make the Mayors at Home so successful.

A working group for the 51 Chichester – Selsey bus route has been meeting to look at installing additional bus shelters on the route. It is hoped that additional shelters will be installed at key locations in the city.

COUNCIL2025/24 MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING

The minutes were APPROVED and SIGNED as a correct record of the ordinary meeting held on the 24 September 2025.

COUNCIL2025/25 UPDATE ON ACTIONS FROM PREVIOUS MEETING

  • Council noted that the letter to WSCC regarding flooding in Parchment Street had not yet been sent.
  • The property fund investment has been liquidated.
  • The Financial regulations have been updated.
  • The roof tender is still being worked on.
  • We are still lobbying WSCC regarding the issues at St Pauls Road and have been analysing their raw data captured at the crossing regarding pedestrian demand.
  • Residents have presented at the P&C Committee.

Task: Chase Cllr Quail for details regarding the flooding. @TownClerk

COUNCIL2025/26 MINUTES FROM COMMITTEES

Council NOTED receipt of the minutes and considered the recommendations (if any) from Committee meetings held since last Council meeting as follows.

Community Affairs Committee

Council NOTED receipt of the minutes of the meeting held on 4 December 2025.

Council NOTED receipt of the minutes of the Community Liaison Sub-Committee meeting held on 21 November 2025.

Finance Committee

Council NOTED receipt of the minutes of the meetings held on 19 November 2025 and 10 December 2025.

Council CONSIDERED the following recommendations from the Finance Committee:

Minute FIN2025/22 refers – RECOMMEND to Full Council on 17 December 2025 that the IT Equipment and Systems Acceptable Use Policy and the Social Media Policy be adopted by the City Council.

Council RESOLVED to adopt the proposed policy subject to ‘non-casual internet browsing’’ being changed for ‘casual internet browsing’ in the final policy.

Minute FIN2025/25 refers – RECOMMEND to Full Council that the appropriate change be made to the City Council’s Financial Regulations. (namely that financial regulations would need to be updated to reflect the change of the petty cash float which had increased from £30 to £65).

Council RESOLVED to adopt the proposed changes to the Financial Regulations.

Council NOTED receipt of the minutes of the Business Plan Sub-Committee meeting held on 24 November 2025.

Task: Update City Plan document with latest E-ink display information.@CommunicationsandCivicSupportOfficer

Council NOTED receipt of the minutes of the Property Sub-Committee meeting held on 25 November 2025.

Planning and Conservation Committee

Council NOTED receipt of the minutes of the meetings held on 9 October 2025, 6 November 2025 and 4 December 2025.

Cllrs requested that in future more attention was paid to improvements in infrastructure when considering large developments to ensure that opportunities for improvements and ensuring connection and integration with the wider area were not missed.

Issues regarding street lighting on St Pauls Road are still a problem as they are not due to be delivered until phase 2 of the Minerva Heights development.

West Sussex Council Councillor (WSCC) Sarah Sharp enquired if the Minerva Heights infrastructure steering group was still functioning and if it has ceased if it could be reinstated.

Cllrs discussed the importance of early engagement with developers when schemes are being brought forward to ensure that local needs and priorities are addressed.

Task: Investigate with CDC if the infrastructure steering group could be reconvened @CllrVivian

COUNCIL2025/27 LOCAL GOVERNMENT REORGANISATION

Council considered the government consultation on LGR in West Sussex and RESOLVED to delegate the response to the consultation to the Chairs of the Standing Committees and the Mayor and the Town Clerk to complete before the deadline of 11th January 2026.

Council considered whether to run public meetings in all City wards to advise communities of potential impacts of Community Asset Transfers and RESOLVED to proceed with the proposal.

Task: Arrange meeting dates and venues for town hall meetings in each ward in January.

COUNCIL2025/28 STATUTORY POLICY REVIEWS

Council reviewed the procedures for handling requests made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Data Protection Act 2018 and RESOLVED to make no changes to the policy.

Following a review of the Planning and Conservation Committee delegated authority to the Planning Adviser, Council RATIFIED the changes to the Committee Terms of Reference and Scheme of Delegation to reflect current working practices.

Council considered the revised City Council co-option policy and RESOLVED to adopt the proposed policy.

COUNCIL2025/29 CASUAL VACANCY ON THE CITY COUNCIL – EAST WARD

The Clerk advised that following the expiry of the statutory notice period, no election had been called for the vacancy in the East Ward and Council could now proceed to co-option to fill the position. It was recommended that advertising for the vacancy commence in the new year with a view to making the appointment at the February full council meeting.

Following a brief discussion Council AGREED that they would advertise immediately the vacancy for six weeks and aim to co-opt the new councillor in early February at a special council meeting.

Task: advertise councillor vacancy and call extra council meeting in early February to make the co-option. @TownClerk

COUNCIL2025/30 20MPH COMMUNITY HIGHWAYS SCHEME

Council considered the report and RESOLVED that the project not be pursued further at this time due to the time and resource constraints and the low priority with residents. In future 20mph schemes would be considered on a case by case basis in individual wards.

WSCC Sharp advised Cllrs that residents in the city centre may need to be consulted as there are issues with signage and repeaters on the existing 20mph scheme within the City Centre which it was hoped would be addressed within the Community Highway Sceme (CHS).

RMo joined the meeting at 18:50

COUNCIL2025/31 CALENDAR OF MEETINGS – 2026-2027

Council reviewed the draft calendar of Council and Committee meetings for 2026-2027. They expressed concerns regarding the number of meetings in December but understood that this was driven by budget setting timetables and APPROVED its adoption.

COUNCIL2025/32 JUNIOR CITIZENSHIP DAY 2026

Council NOTED the update from the Mayor that the City Council would be supporting the West Sussex County Council Fire and Rescue Service Junior Citizenship Day 2026 by hosting an event in the Assembly Room on 17th January 2026 to try and secure sponsors to help cover transport and event delivery costs for the day which will be held at Goodwood and will be delivered to over 1,000 year six pupils from across Chichester and Arun.

COUNCIL2025/33 REPORTS FROM REPRESENTATIVES ON OUTSIDE BODIES

Council NOTED that no reports had been received from City Council representatives on outside bodies.

CA advised that she chairs the Chichester Welfare Trust. At a recent meeting they identified that they need to improve their safeguarding procedures, which are now being updated.

JV advised that the Chichester Vision Steering Group has been considering Local Government Reorganisation and how it will impact the work of the group – the intention is that the group will continue to exist.

COUNCIL2025/34 WARD REPORTS FROM CHICHESTER CITY COUNCILLORS

Council NOTED the report from CG on proposed changes to NHS local plans and local reorganisation. The proposed changes may impact delivery methods and points of access to services in the area. CG is hoping to ask representatives from the trust to report to Council in the spring.

A wide-ranging discussion on the scale of reorganisation nationally and locally in various key services took place and CG agreed to keep councillors updated.

Task: Invite representatives of SCFT NHS trust to present to the Council in the spring. @CouncillorCGershater

COUNCIL2025/35 REPORTS FROM CHICHESTER DISTRICT AND WEST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCILLORS REPRESENTING CHICHESTER WARDS AND DIVISIONS

The TC advised that reports had been received from WSCC Cllrs Sharp and Joy and would be circulated with the meeting minutes.

WSCC Cllr Sharp added that the community bus scheme from Stockbridge is progressing and consultation is now underway to design the service to meet residents needs. The bus will be taken to residents in the new year, with the expectation that the service will commence in mid-January.

CDC Cllr Brown added that the work of the Vision Steering Group is vital and they are keen to see it continue. He also encouraged CCC to engage early with developers in order to design better schemes and secure better outcomes for residents. JB thanked the TC for meeting with CDC estates manager which had been very positive.

COUNCIL2025/36 QUESTIONS

No questions from members had been received.

COUNCIL2025/37 DATE OF NEXT MEETING

The date of an Extra Ordinary meeting was CONFIRMED as Wednesday 7th January 2026 at 6pm. It would be a single item agenda to consider Community Asset Transfers at Oaklands Park.

Date of next Ordinary meeting: Wednesday 25 February 2026 at 6.00pm

COUNCIL2025/38 ITEMS FOR NEXT AGENDA(S)

7th January 2026

  • CATs at Oaklands Park

Early February (date tbc)

  • Cooption of new councillor

25th February 2026

  • Local NHS reorganisation

Task: Make changes to meeting calendar @CouncilServicesandSupportManager

COUNCIL2025/39 PUBLIC BODIES (ADMISSION TO MEETINGS) ACT 1960

Council RESOLVED that the public and press be excluded from this meeting for agenda items COUNCIL2025/40-41 due to the confidential nature of the business to be transacted, namely confidential business matters with third parties and Annual Award nominations.

The meeting adjourned briefly for 10 minutes at 19.27

The meeting resumed at 19.37

COUNCIL2025/40 COMMUNITY ASSET TRANSFERS

The Town Clerk updated Council on progress on the various Community Asset Transfer applications submitted to Chichester District Council.

Already AGREED an extra meeting would be called for 7th January 2026 to further advise Council on progress.

A wide-ranging discussion took place in which councillors considered several issues. It was acknowledged that communication processes needed to be reviewed to ensure that in future members were kept aware of the latest developments.

RMi left the meeting at 20.04

Task: Review member communication channels for CAT progress updates @Sam tate

COUNCIL2025/41 CONSIDERATION OF ANNUAL AWARD AND FREEDOM OF THE CITY NOMINATIONS

COUNCIL2025/41.1 ANNUAL AWARDS NOMINATIONS

Council RESOLVED by a 2/3 majority to award the following annual awards:

  • Civic Awards – Julie Sandals
  • Community Award – Creative Beatz/Jam Cafe
  • Art and Science Award – Chichester Creative Network
  • Small Business Award – Ghost at the Feast
  • Blue Plaque Awards – Marjorie Wilkinson, James Freeland, Queen Elizabeth 1st, Charlotte Turner Smith.

COUNCIL2025/41.2 FREEDOM OF THE CITY NOMINATION

RESOLVED unanimously by all Councillors present that, further to the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972 section 249 (subsections 5 to 10 inclusive), the Freedom of the City of Chichester be bestowed on Jess Breach and that the Freedom ceremony be arranged at a later date.

Councillors agreed that the Freedom recipient was eligible for the Freedom award due to her involvement in sports and community engagement in the city.

COUNCIL2025/41.3 DATE OF THE AWARDS CEREMONY

Council RESOLVED to hold a combined event for the Annual Awards and Freedom ceremony.

Council AGREED that the date for the agreed ceremony would be confirmed depending on venue availability but would likely take place in late March/Early April to allow sufficient time for blue plaques to be made.

COUNCIL2025/42 COMMON SEAL

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

The meeting closed at 8.51pm

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