Minutes – Full Council – 18 December 2024

The agenda and papers for this meeting are available here: Full Council – 18 December 2024 – 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 – 18 December 2024

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

• Chichester District Councillor Jonathan Brown (North Ward) – update report to Council
• West Sussex County Councillor Simon Oakley (East Division) – update report to Council

MEETING OF COUNCIL

Minutes

Date: 19 December 2024

Time: 6.00pm – 7.19pm

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

PRESENT: The Mayor, Councillor Quail (SQ), the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Loxton (SL), Councillors Apel (CA), Chant (RC), C Gershater (CG), J Gershater (JG), Knight (SK), Kondabeka (JK), Miall (RMi), Moore (RMo) and Vivian (JV).

ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: Town Clerk, Deputy Town Clerk, Council Services and Support Officer, Communities Officer, Mayor’s Chaplain, West Sussex County Councillor Simon Oakley, Chichester District Councillor Jonathan Brown, one member of the public.

60. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies were noted from Councillors Butler, Corfield, Hitchman, McHale, Pramas and Scicluna.

Councillor Squire was absent.

61. DISPENSATION REQUESTS

No requests had been received since the last meeting of the City Council.

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

No declarations were made.

63. MAYOR’S ANNOUNCEMENTS

No Mayor’s announcements.

64. PUBLIC QUESTIONS

No questions were received from members of the public pursuant to Appendix 1 of Chichester City Council’s Standing Orders (September 2020).

65. MINUTES OF COUNCIL

Proposed by RC seconded by CG and RESOLVED to accept and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Meeting of Council held on 25 September 2024.

JV abstained having been absent from the meeting on 25 September 2024.

66. UPDATES ON ITEMS FROM THE LAST MEETING NOT COVERED BY THIS AGENDA

a) Diversity training

Council NOTED that the diversity training had now been delivered.

RC asked if all Councillors had completed the training and requested that Councillor training be added to a future agenda.

TC advised that the slides from the Equalities and Diversity course would be sent to those Councillors who had not been able to attend in person and that a suitable online course would be offered for them to take part in.

67. MINUTES OF COMMITTEES

a) Planning and Conservation Committee

JV, as Vice-Chair of the Committee, gave Members a brief summary of the minutes of the meetings held on 10 October 2024, 7 November 2024 and 5 December 2024.

Members NOTED the receipt of the minutes and the updates given.

b) Community Affairs Committee

CA, as Chair of the Committee, asked Members for questions arising from the minutes of the meeting held on 7 October 2024, 2 December 2024 and 9 December.

Members NOTED the receipt of the minutes and the updates given with the exception of minute 72 of the 9 December 2024 meeting.

Council considered the following recommendation from the Committee:

Public Art Policy (minute 72) – The committee reviewed the draft policy, which was based on the Leicester City Principles for Commissioning and Conserving Public Art, as recommended in the Civic and Ceremonial Working Group report and RESOLVED to recommend it to Full Council for adoption.

RESOLVED to adopt the Public Art Policy as proposed by the Community Affairs Committee on 9 December 2024.

c) Finance Committee

Councillor Miall, as Chair of the Finance Committee, presented the minutes of the meetings held on 16 October 2024 (Special Meeting), 6 November 2024 and 4 December 2024.

Council NOTED the receipt of the minutes of the meetings held on 16 October 2024 (Special Meeting), 6 November 2024 and 4 December 2024 with the exception of minutes 73 and 74a.

Council considered the following recommendations from the Committee:

Minute 73 refers – Town Clerk’s delegated authority for spending commitments – RECOMMENDED to Full Council on 18 December 2024 that the Town Clerk’s designated spending authority for commitments within agreed budgets be increased to £5,000.

Minute 74a refers – City Council Budget 2025-2026 – The Committee RECOMMENDED to Full Council on 18 December 2024 that the City Council’s budget for 2025/2026 be agreed providing the Tax Base remains unchanged from the draft figure of 12,517.40 supplied by the District Council. The recommended budget to be £1,211,683 with a precept demand of £970,760 and a Band D Council Tax increase of £6.79 to £77.55.

DTC advised that the tax base figure for 2025/2026 had now been confirmed as 12,517.40.

RESOLVED to adopt the recommendations made by the Finance Committee at its meeting on 4 December 2024, namely, that the Town Clerk’s delegated spending commitment authority be increased to £5,000 and that the City Council’s budget for 2025/2026 be agreed providing the Tax Base remains unchanged from the draft figure of 12,517.40 supplied by the District Council. The recommended budget to be £1,211,683 with a precept demand of £970,760 and a Band D Council Tax increase of £6.79 to £77.55.

Members were advised that the proposed fees and charges, as presented with the City Council budget for 2025/2026, had been rounded as requested. Council RATIFIED the proposed fees and charges for 2025/2026, which had been approved by the Finance Committee.

Property Sub-Committee

Members NOTED receipt of the minutes of the Property Sub-Committee meeting held on 26 November 2024

Business Plan Sub-Committee

RMi, as Chair of the Sub-Committee, presented the minutes of the meeting that had been held on 5 December 2024.
Members NOTED receipt of the minutes of the Business Plan Sub-Committee meeting held on 5 December 2024 with the exception of minute 31.

Members discussed the options for funding a range of new projects and the possibility of diverting funding from the previously proposed open-air performance space to alternative uses given the difficulties in securing permission from Chichester District Council (CDC) for developing a bandstand on their land.

Council considered the following recommendation from the Sub-Committee:

Minute 31 – Committee AGREED to recommend to Council that a budget of £5,000 be made available for public engagement with the community.

RESOLVED to approve creating a budget of £5,000, funded from the City Council’s Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) reserves, be made available to fund public engagement related to the Community Space in the South of the City project.

68. ANNNUAL REVIEW OF CITY COUNCIL POLICIES AS PER STANDING ORDERS

RESOLVED to renew the following policies without consequential change:

• Chichester City Council Complaints Policy – December 2023
• Chichester City Council Model Publication Scheme – December 2023
• Chichester City Council Model Publication Scheme schedule of information available – December 2023

AGREED that a hyperlink be inserted in to the Complaints Policy to direct enquirers to the newly created online complaints form for Chichester District Council’s Monitoring Officer.

69. REPORTS RECEIVED

Members noted the report from West Sussex County and Chichester District Councillor Sarah Sharp that had been circulated with the agenda.

Councillors were advised that reports had been received from West Sussex County Councillor Simon Oakley and Chichester District Councillor Jonathan Brown after the agenda had been published and that they would be circulated with the minutes of the meeting.

CA requested that Members review the way in which ward reports were brought to Council.

RC advised that there were currently vacancies for City Council Outside Bodies representatives on Chichester BID and Friends of Valletta.

AGREED that further discussion of the Outside Bodies arrangements would be deferred to the Community Affairs Committee at its annual review at its meeting in March 2025.

70. QUESTIONS

The Chairman noted that no questions had been received pursuant to Standing Order 8.

71. ITEMS FOR INCLUSION ON THE NEXT AGENDAS

22 January 2025 – Extra Ordinary Meeting of Council

• Update on the Chichester Festival Theatre NEST project.
• Update on the playgrounds project

19 February 2025 – Ordinary Meeting of Council

• Councillor training
• Review of ward report process

72. PUBLIC BODIES (ADMISSION TO MEETINGS ACT) 1960

RESOLVED that the public and press be excluded from this meeting for agenda items 14 and 15 due to the confidential nature of the business to be transacted namely financial and business affairs of third parties.

73. PLAYGROUNDS IN CHICHESTER

RMi updated councillors on the current progress of the playgrounds project at CDC and advised that CDC have now reviewed the tender responses and appointed a preferred supplier. Designs for schemes at budget points of £800k and £1.2million have been prepared.

Council were informed that CDC have asked the City Council for an ongoing annual commitment towards annual maintenance costs if the larger scheme is delivered. This would be in the region of £25K per year. In addition, they have also asked the City Council to make provision for future equipment replacement by creating an ear marked reserve and setting aside funds each year.

TC reported that this would require an allocation of at least an additional £20K per year over 20 years.

Members were reminded that, from the outset, any funding provide by the City Council would be a one-off capital allocation of CIL funds and that the current CDC proposals could add an additional £40-45K to the future annual precept requirement.

RMi informed Members that CDC had asked if the City Council were open to considering alternative uses for its proposed £400K investment, for example developing new outdoor recreation facilities in the City to provide additional opportunities for sport and participation.

Council was advised that a detailed report on options would be brought to the Council for consideration in January.

74. MATTERS ARISING REGARDING THE MARKET HOUSE

TC advised the license for the re-assignment of the lease between the City Council and Orion Development (Southern) Ltd had completed on 16th December 2024.

Council were informed that the assignment between Orion Developments (Southern) Ltd and the new tenant was understood to be due to complete within the next couple of days, although there was up to 3 months within which this could be completed.

75. 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: 19 February 2025 at 6.00pm

The meeting closed at 7.19pm

ACTIONS ARISING FROM THIS MEETING

Minute ref.	Action	Assigned to:
66a	Councillor training to be added to the agenda for the next Ordinary Meeting of the City Council.	Town Clerk
66a	Councillors who had not attended the in-person Equalities and Diversity training to be provided with the slides from the course and the opportunity to undertake a similar course online.	Town Clerk
68	Add a hyperlink to the District Council Monitoring Officer’s online complaints form into the City Council’s complaints policy document.	Council Services and Support Manager