Chichester District Council’s corporate plan extended for one year due to pandemic

The plan, which has set out the council’s priorities and objectives since 2018, is reviewed annually to make sure it is fit for purpose.

This year, though, it will be extended to 2022.

At a meeting of the cabinet on Tuesday (January 5), leader Eileen Lintill explained that work to review the plan had started early in 2020, before the Covid outbreak brought things to a halt.

Instead, a number of interim priorities, such as preventing homelessness and providing more community grants, were agreed in July as part of the district’s Covid recovery plan.

Asking the cabinet for its backing to extend the Corporate Plan, Mrs Lintill said: “We sincerely hope that this allows enough time for Covid to pass – time will tell – and for us to then develop a new set of priorities that focus on the district’s longer term objectives rather than its shorter term needs as defined by the recovery plan.”

The final say on extending the plan will be given to a meeting of the full council, due to be held on Tuesday January 19.