Conservatives accused of rejecting Chichester recovery ideas from opposition ‘out of hand’

Covering everything from community, housing and health to the economy, the environment and future services, the recovery plan looks at what needs to be done over the next 12 months and the services requirements from 2022/23 onwards.

It was discussed at length during an online meeting on Tuesday (July 21).

The effect of the pandemic has been severe, with this year’s budget an estimated £8m short and the council having to find £2m in order to balance the books over the next five years.

Leader Eileen Lintil described the recovery plans as ‘focussed and robust’ and said it was important to act quickly and ‘concentrate on those things that are going to support our communities and businesses through the recovery period’.

That support included:

• The creation of a £500k grants fund, divided equally between community and economic recovery grants;

• An extra £100k per year for Visit Chichester;

• Up to £20k towards an economic impact study for the Novium Museum, Chichester Festival Theatre and the Pallant House Gallery;

• Dropping the fees paid by private landlords under the council’s Homefinder scheme.

Four recovery teams will be set up – covering community, the economy, the running of the council, and planning, heath and the environment – to make recommendations regarding policy decisions, service priorities and finance.

There was concern from opposition members that some councillors had been privately ‘sounded out’ about joining the teams, while others had not.

Mrs Lintil said no final decisions had been made about who would be on which team, adding: “What we want are ideas. At no point in time if you have a brilliant idea and don’t happen to be one of the advisers [can you not] put that.

“We want it to be all-encompassing. We really do want to hear what you’ve got to say.”

The opposition was left wondering if that really was the case after a string of green amendments to the recovery plan were voted down by the Conservatives.

The rejections led to a bad-tempered exchange between some members, with Jonathan Brown (Lib Dem, Southbourne) accusing the Tories of only being interested in their own ideas.

Mr Brown had suggested that businesses who were committed to reducing their carbon footprint should be given priority when it came to grants.

Lib Dem leader Adrian Moss was left furious by the repeated rejections, declaring: “You are saying [you] want ideas and every idea that anybody comes up with that is new and different you reject out of hand.

“If you want new ideas you have to accept some of the ideas that are coming from backbenchers and other people.

“If you want this to be a united council’s document you’ve got to accept some of out thoughts, some of our ideas.”

Simon Oakley (Con, North Mundham & Tangmere) dismissed some of the amendments as ‘posturing’ and ‘style over substance’.

He and others said many of the ideas proposed by opposition members were already part of the council’s plans.

A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton:

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Stay safe, and best wishes.