District Dispatch - 7 January 2025

Regeneration is much more than just bricks and mortar - it's about bringing people together and giving them better opportunities in life. This strategy will help us to revitalise our beautiful and historic city, by encouraging investment; creating more jobs; and, delivering homes that our residents want to see. It will also help to improve our digital infrastructure and boost our local economy. By working with our partners to drive sustainable growth and encourage investment through regeneration, we will improve the life chances of those who live and work here. Chichester is more than ready to advance and accelerate further.

We all know that the city is a great place to live and work, and it is important that we build upon its strengths to make sure that it is better connected; greener; healthier; diverse and inclusive; and economically prosperous. The strategy highlights key locations for regeneration, including the important northern and southern gateways to the city. While some of the strategic regeneration sites are in public ownership, some are privately owned. This is why this piece of work, and the production of the strategy is so important - it's about the council working closely with developers and landowners to help accelerate potential opportunities for the benefit of the city.

As part of this work, we will also be exploring other exciting opportunities, including carrying out a piece of work to look at the demand for a hotel and dedicated performing arts and music centre for the city. We will also be looking at what types and sizes of units are required by start-up businesses in the city and supporting improvements to shop fronts and signage. This is all in addition to developing a unique identify for the city, shaped by its people, economy, culture, and history, to drive more investment into our area.

This vision is not ours alone. Over eighty stakeholders have helped us to shape this strategy, including businesses, community groups, Chichester City Council and West Sussex County Council - and we appreciate the important role that they have played and will continue to provide going forward.

Prior to approving this back in October, there was no over-arching strategy to bring regeneration and place-making opportunities together and so this piece of work is a really exciting opportunity for our historic city. It aims to provide a framework for future-decision making, including setting parameters for development, utilising public owned assets and identifying regeneration opportunities.

We believe that this will help to magnify the city's strength and create a place that is prosperous and connected. We will make sure that we keep you closely updated on this work as it progresses.

This has been another very busy and productive year at the council, including asking you for your thoughts on a range of really important pieces of work - from our emergency climate action plan, through to the evening and nighttime economy. Our response rates have never been as high - and we would like to thank you for this. Your views are incredibly important to us, and we look forward to updating you on both of these pieces of work in the New Year. We will also be launching two new consultations in January, one on our play parks and the other will focus on housing. We regularly consult with you on a range of matters. As part of this, we run a 'Let's Talk Panel'. If you join our panel, we will let you know every time we run a survey, and then it's up to you if you want to have your say. Please do consider signing up on our Let's Talk Panel web page.

Best Wishes

Cllr Adrian Moss
Leader of Chichester District Council