Anti-Social Behaviour in Chichester

December 10, 2025Crime & Anti-Social BehaviourASBJohnH

On the 2nd of December 2025, The Chichester Society organised a panel meeting to discuss the increase in anti-social behaviour (ASB) in Chichester with Key Partners including Sussex Police, Chichester District Council, Chichester BID and key stakeholders. All parties have committed to quarterly review meetings.

The outcome was very positive and we now wish to share important information with all Resident’s Associations, to in turn, pass on to their membership. It is particularly important to get the message out during the Christmas period and New Year when there is an increased influx of people drinking and gathering in groups on the streets and perhaps more younger people around who are on holiday from school and perhaps bored or badly influenced by older age groups.

ASB is on the increase for residents and businesses alike and has a cumulative effect on our area, and whilst it appears an arduous task to report incidences and fill in the on-line form on the Sussex Police website, it is critical to do so.

Specific details like time of day, address, description (for example school uniform) and photos add weight to the reporting and help the authorities target areas in an efficient and speedier manner.

The authorities need to see actual real time increase and data of reporting and we all have a responsibility to help with this, which in turn helps us all. Every report counts, it is not a pointless exercise.

Without the reporting, decisions cannot be made for instance, to increase Officer quotas or keep an eye on a specific area.

If your membership find filling in the form too overwhelming, suggest family, friends and neighbours assist.

Obviously if anyone is in immediate danger always ring 999.

The link to the Sussex Police is https://www.sussex.police.uk/ro/report/asb/asb-v3/report-antisocial-behaviour/

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Weald and Downland Living Museum – “55 for the 55th” Project

November 15, 2025Education, Local AmenitiesJohnH

The Weald and Downland Living Museum is launching an anniversary campaign to raise £55,000 to make the Museum more ‘Accessible to Everyone’ for the next 55 years and beyond.

This year marks the 55th anniversary of the Weald & Downland Living Museum. To celebrate, we are launching our “55 for 55” campaign – aiming to raise £55,000 to make the Museum more ‘Accessible to Everyone’.

History and heritage should be open to all. Yet today some visitors face challenges accessing our beautiful site and historic buildings. With your support, we can preserve the past and open the future to all. Your donation will help us to:

Create new accessible paths so wheelchair users, those with mobility needs, and families with pushchairs can move freely around the Museum.
Deliver new, inclusive play areas designed for children of all ages and abilities, giving families welcoming spaces to rest, play, and connect.
Install updated signage and interpretation boards designed with inclusive, easy-to-read formats, supporting visitors with reading accessibility needs.
Deliver site-wide accessibility improvements that enhance navigation, inclusivity, and the visitor experience – opening the Museum to new communities.

Together, we can make sure the Weald and Downland remains a place for everyone, for the next 55 years and beyond.

The link to the Crowdfund is here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/qr/qle5gzXl?utm_campaign=sharemodal&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=shortlink

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Local Government Reorganisation in Sussex

October 20, 2025Events, Local GovernmentLGRJohnH

Our current Mayor, Sean McHale, is calling two meetings in the Assembly Room on Monday 3rd November at 1800 and 1930 to discuss the potential impact of local government reorganisation (LGR) on Chichester city’s green spaces. He will talk as will a colleague about this topic. They’ll be time for a Q&A as well.

As background this presentation Local Government Changes with branding provides an overview. And you can find CDC’s view here.

As Sean says: ‘As a council we need a plan and the aim of the evening is to sense the appetite among residents for various options’.

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Chichester: City, Devolution & Transport – Information Sharing Event

June 23, 2025Buses, Railway, Society events, TransportJohnH

An important opportunity to learn about plans for public transport in Chichester.
This is the Society’s annual public meeting, Tuesday 1st July at 1800 in the Assembly Room, as part of the Festival of Chichester.

The speakers are now confirmed:
– Matt Davey (Assistant Director of Highways, Transport & Planning for WSCC)
– William Knighton & Laura Rondon (Senior Public Affairs Managers for Network Rail)
– Paul Codd (Senior Stakeholder Manager for Govia (Southern Rail))
– James O’Neill (Commercial Director for Stagecoach South)
There will be opportunity for questions.

£5 tickets are available from the Novium Museum to cover the cost of the event and refreshments.
You can book online at festivalofchichester.co.uk/events, selecting Event CO8.
This will ensure you can be seated and receive refreshments.

DON’T LEAVE IT TOO LATE TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT!
And tell your friends and neighbours!

Do also visit our stand at the Chichester Gala in Priory Park on Saturday 29 June, pitch no 26, near the West Main Gate / NW of the Guildhall, from 11am to 4:30pm
(beyond the Friends of Chartres, Ravenna, Valetta & Speyer and the Priory Park Society.)
A chance to meet your committee and other members, and there will also be activities for children.

Sir Mark Featherstone-Witty OBE,
Chair of the Chichester Society Executive Committee

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Chichester Action Group – Green Space Tidying

December 7, 2024Environment, WalkwaysFootpathsJohnH

The Chichester Action Group (CAG) kicked off earlier this year, hoping to make modest but useful differences to the city we all love. One of our ‘quick win’ ideas was tidying up unsightly areas where overgrown foliage goes well beyond ‘wilding’ to the point of visually marring parts of the urban landscape.
Our first blitz was in the strip of stone paving between the Oxmarket Gallery and the backs of the shops on East Street. The area had become so wild that it was an off-putting sight for those using the twitten beside M&S to access the Oxmarket and nearby car park. The condition of the space was also starting to attract litter and had the potential to become a magnet for miscreants.
So on a grey Saturday afternoon (November 14^th), a group of 11 volunteers – from both CAG and the Oxmarket – joined forces to return the area to a far more presentable state.
The job took barely 90 minutes but the results are striking:

The lane behind the Oxmarket gallery before November 14th

After

A week later we scored a second success, this time along the embankments of the Roman Walls in the city’s northwest quadrant. This summer we had noticed walking-tour guides telling visitors that this area “used to be beautiful” and we were keen to make sure that we could remove such comments from the script!
However, as the maintenance of this land is officially a council duty, the DIY approach used in cooperation with and eager support of our friends at the Oxmarket, wouldn’t work on these areas. Instead, Jane Langford on behalf of CAG, launched a concerted campaign to nag the district council [CDC] into action.
Despite an initial rebuff, Jane’s mixture of diplomacy and persistence eventually had the desired effect, aided by the intercession of certain local councillors to push CDC to act.
In the end, the CDC’s Parks and Gardens did a sterling job and the results are truly remarkable:

Northwest Walls - before — Northwest Walls – before

Northwest Walls access point before November 20^th.

After

More work remains to be completed on other sections of the walls but Jane’s groundwork of involving and cooperating with councillors and residents’ groups means that this should prove a springboard to encourage the CDC to continue with refreshing other ‘Green Spaces’ along the City Walls Walk and beyond.

So congratulations to all involved. Two different approaches both proved successful. And to the many passers-by who expressed their support when seeing the clearance in action, please do join us at the Chichester Action Group for more small but important ‘quick win’ efforts to get our beautiful city back to looking beautiful.

See more ideas for CAG to work on here, and to volunteer help please email cag@chichestersociety.org.uk

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Chi Soc visit to Tangmere Museum

November 21, 2024Society eventsTangmereJohnH

On 14 November a group of some thirty members paid a visit to Tangmere Military Aviation Museum.

Our host was David Coxon, former curator and now an Honorary Life Vice President of the Museum. Chi Soc members will have seen some of David’s articles about Tangmere in recent editions of our newsletter.
David started by giving us a talk about the Tangmere airbase and the origins of the museum, which opened to the public in 1982.

David did stress that despite all the aircraft and machinery in the museum, it is really about the personal histories of the airmen, many of whom gave their lives for the country.
After David’s introductory talk, we split into three groups to tour the museum.
I was in the group that was led by David.
We started by looking at the aircraft outside the museum, which included a Sea Harrier, a Phantom, and a Wessex helicopter.
We then went indoors and started in the Battle of Britain Hall, which included a display relating to Flt Lt James Nicholson, Fighter Command’s only Victoria Cross holder of the war. Other displays related to air aces such as Douglas Bader and Johnnie Johnson.
In the Tangmere Hall we saw displays relating to the Special Operations Executive and how Tangmere played a crucial role flying Lysanders to get agents secretly in and out of France.

The Merston Hall has a full-scale replica of a Lysander. In the Middle Hall is and exhibition celebrating the role of the many Czech and Polish pilots who supported the RAF during the war.
We then moved to the Merston and Meryl

Hansed Memorial Halls which house most of the actual aircraft in the collection, including the Hawker Hunter in which Neville Duke broke the world airspeed record in 1953.

However, what really stunned me was the enormous size of the Lightning, the museum’s largest aircraft, which seemed to be the size of a railway carriage, but with wings attached!
If you haven’t been, I can strongly recommend a visit to the museum.

Richard Childs

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YOUR IDEAS FOR OUR CITY – follow up

August 17, 2024Society eventsCommunity ActionJohnH

Your Ideas for our City - panel — Your Ideas for our City – panel – credit Jan Davis

Our public meeting on 17 June on the theme “Your Ideas for Our City” as part of the Festival of Chichester attracted over 150 participants.
We followed up with a questionnaire and then, on 8 August, sixteen of us met to discuss how to translate some of the ideas into action.
We decided to focus initially on small-scale achievable objectives such as litter, weeding and signage by forming one or more project groups to address specific issues, overseen by a Campaign Manager / Coordinator on the Society’s Executive Committee.
Team members would hope to recruit community volunteers to carry out the work by emailing Society members and local Residents Associations, as well as University and College student groups.
Direct community action might shame the local authorities into taking action themselves!

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Your Ideas for our City – Public Meeting June 17

July 1, 2024Society events, Society projectsJohnH

We were delighted to welcome over 130 attendees at our panel discussion in the Assembly Room as part of the ongoing Festival of Chichester.

It was on the exact 50th anniversary of the Town Meeting in Chichester Cathedral on Monday 17 June 1974 which was attended by some 1500 citizens outraged at the ongoing demolition of housing to create a dual carriageway ring road and commercial development within the city centre.

This prompted us to organise a similar – albeit smaller – event to discuss issues affecting the city today. It was a lively meeting, with lots of ideas from the panel and arising from Q&A session, followed by drinks and nibbles with opportunity for further discussion.

Panel members were:

Phil Hewitt (chair): Arts Editor of the Chichester Observer
Mark Elliott: Festival of Chichester Administrator
Simon Holland, Interim Dean of Chichester
Richard Plowman: Former Councillor and Mayor of Chichester, currently Chichester Town Crier.
Mark Mason: Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student Experience)of the university of Chichester

We will produce a summary of the main ideas and issues raised, with a plan for follow up.

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YOUR IDEAS FOR OUR CITY!

May 22, 2024UncategorizedJohnH

Come to a discussion on the evening of Monday 17 June at the Assembly Room

All are warmly invited to this free public event which is open to everyone as part of the Festival of Chichester. Entry is strictly by a free ticket obtained from the Festival website or the Novium box office in Tower Street, since seating is limited.

The theme for the evening is Your Ideas for Our City, discussed by a panel chaired by Phil Hewitt, well-known arts editor at the Chichester Observer.
Panellists are
– Richard Plowman, former councillor and mayor of Chichester
(replaces Adrian Moss, Leader of Chichester District Council, unable to attend in pre-election “purdah”)
– Simon Holland, Chichester Cathedral Interim Dean
– Mark Elliott Festival of Chichester coordinator
– Dr Mark Mason, Chichester University Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student Experience).

Discussion will cover many topics, some of which are mentioned on pages 18 and 19 of the newsletter’s March edition.

Come and have your say. Ideas from the panel and audience comments will be recorded.
The discussion will be followed by a drinks reception with snacks.

Chichester Society members may wish to make themselves known on arrival at the Assembly Room, so we can give you a special welcome and ask you to write comments or complaints about the city or indeed about your society! All remarks will be treated confidentially.

It’s on Monday 17 June from 7 to 9pm in the Assembly Room at the Council House on North Street. Bring your friends!

Do also consider some of the other events during the Festival of Chichester 15 June to 21 July

John Halliday and John Templeton, members of the Executive Committee

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50th Anniversary in 2023!

December 19, 2023UncategorizedJohnH

We are celebrating the birth of the Chichester Society in the autumn of 1973. It was born as protest against changes that were viewed as wrecking this city’s character. We honour David Goodman whose inspirational address was greeted by acclamation and a wish to preserve rather than destroy, illustrated by Somerstown’s demolition during the previous decade – whose demise we record in our December newsletter*.

The Chichester Society wants the best for this city: housing that is affordable, good public transport, a vibrant city centre; somewhere that is clean, tidy and respectful of our heritage, admired by residents and visitors alike. We welcome initiative and growth, especially when allied to youthful endeavour, which is why we’re pleased to publish a good-news article* on the University of Chichester’s success.

Our problems are not unique because the clash between urban growth and conservation is experienced across the country. But Chichester, squeezed between the Downs and Harbour, is experiencing wholly inappropriate development. This country invented the planning system as protection fromurban sprawl but the setting of our city is being rapidly destroyed. In recent years we have lost farmland separating the town from nearby villages such as Westhampnett, leaving only a gap, the Daffodil Field, between Summersdale and Lavant remaining. We have built hundreds of new dwellings encircling our city. We endure traffic levels that are unacceptable. If our Local Plan can be approved we can at least reduce new housing numbers to some extent.

We are fortunate to live in a town of charm and character. But the development threats whilst no new Local Plan is in place are being repeated on a damaging scale today as a result of Planning Appeals.
The case is clear – let’s argue for the best that good planning and architecture can provide.

*the December newsletter has been delivered to members, and will be available on this site in the spring. In the meantime do look at the 25th anniversary newsletter that describes the momentous events that provoked the start of the Chichester Society.

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