Community's views sought on upgrade project at St Paul's Chichester

St Paul’s Church in Chichester and its neighbouring parish centre are used by a huge range of organisations from youth groups and music concerts to counselling services and help for refugees.

Now the church is looking to revamp those facilities and is to hold consultation days for people in the community to have a say on what could be done.

Canon Simon Holland said the church and parish centre were in ‘almost constant’ use every day of the year.

“The doors are always open and we like that,” he said.

“We’re a parish church, we believe we exist to serve the parish and the community so we want the community to feel a sense of ownership in this project.”

He said the project would be in two phases. The first part would be to upgrade the existing church building in terms of lighting, acoustics and disabled access.

The second phase would be to look at how the parish centre could be improved with facilties such as a new kitchen or even an extension.

The Rev Holland said the project could take several years and finding funding would be an ‘act of faith’ but the church wanted and needed to refresh its resources.

He said: “We want to provide high quality facilities and if there is a strong demand in the community maybe we would expand or enhance what we’ve got.”

Two consultation days are planned. The first on Wednesday, January 16, at 7pm, will be aimed primarily at members of the congregation, with a second day on Saturday, January 19, at 2pm for members of the parish, although anyone is welcome to either.

Consultation questionnaires are at www.stpaulschichester.org. Forms should be returned to the parish office or a church volunteer by January 20.