Events to help welcome young people to Chichester as part of council's budget

The budget, which was balanced without the need to draw on reserves, was approved during a meeting of the full council on Tuesday (March 7).

It included a 2.99 per cent increase in council tax.

As for the £30,000, it was part of an amendment tabled by the Liberal Democrats and agreed, after a few tweaks, by the rest of the council.

The aim is for the council to work with Chichester BID, the university, the college, the city council and local businesses to help fund a series of ‘Young People Welcome’ events, starting in September/October.

The amendment said: “Chichester lacks a vibrant evening and night-time economy, leaving the needs of a wide range of residents and businesses unmet.

“This initiative, alongside the Chichester Vision Evening & Night-Time Economy (ENTE) working group is designed to be a part of a wider program of events and activities to stimulate the evening and night-time economy and attract younger residents to use the existing facilities and services.”

Dr Kate O’Kelly (Lib Dem, Harting) said: “I welcome that this has been agreed cross-party. This city needs more of a buzz.

“Our young people need to want to stay here after uni to live and work here.”

Alan Sutton (Con, Fittleworth) agreed that the council did ‘need to do more for the younger people’.

He added that the money would help progress the work of the working group to ‘ensure young people feel welcome in the city’.

Looking at the rest of the budget, a £150,000 surplus from 2022/23 will be put towards measures to help tackle the cost of living crisis.

Peter Wilding, cabinet member for finance, said the decision demonstrated the council’s ‘commitment to protecting those in our community who are most vulnerable’.

He told the meeting that the long-awaited Local Government Finance Settlement from the government had proved to be ‘better than anticipated in a number of areas’.

It included a £704,000 Funding Guarantee Grant, a Service Grant of £91,000 and a Rural Services Delivery Grant of £220,000.

The council was also allocated a New Homes Bonus of £811,000.