‘No decisions made’ on future use of East Pallant House

Chichester District Council is set to explore the option of leaving its headquarters in the centre of the city.
East Pallant House, home of Chichester District CouncilEast Pallant House, home of Chichester District Council
East Pallant House, home of Chichester District Council

The authority has its main base in East Pallant House, which is currently shut to the public and is only being used by a fraction of its staff.

The council is looking to put together a number of Covid-19 recovery action plans covering community and housing, the economy, planning, health and environmental protection as well as organisational recovery.

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On the last of the four, officers noted how the pandemic has ‘forced unprecedented change on the authority in the way it operates’.

Although this has presented some challenges the council has had to overcome, it has also created some opportunities to ‘harness changes that have been positive’ and adopt these on a permanent basis.

It was highlighted how the use of East Pallant House has changed dramatically during lockdown and is not currently open to the public, with very small numbers of staff using the building.

The council is proposing to undertake a review of its office needs and look at possible solutions to meet that need ‘in the most efficient way’.

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This work would include options to relocate to a different, smaller facility.

At a cabinet meeting today (Tuesday July 7), council leader Eileen Lintill said: “Absolutely no decisions have been made whatsoever about East Pallant House. We have not said we are leaving, all we have said is we will look at everything.

“Do not think any decisions have been made that we are going to vacate East Pallant House because at this time that is not the case.”

The recovery plans were also discussed by the overview and scrutiny committee a week earlier.

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After the meeting, Sarah Sharp (Green, Chichester South) said: “I strongly believe we must have the confidence to return to East Pallant House and continue to engage with our residents.

“Shutting up shop will not be setting the sort of example we want other businesses to follow as the last thing we want is the hollowing out of the city centre. Re-inventing East Pallant House for more community use is an innovative route to go down. Retreating to smaller premises doesn’t send out the right message that we’re backing our district to the hilt.”

According to an officers’ report: “The way that our customers have interacted with us has been very different over the last few months and will continue to be so, we will need to consider how our Customer Contact Centre evolves at the appropriate time.

“We also need to think about our future requirements in terms of office space, moving into recovery and beyond. If we continue to be working and interacting with customers remotely then our office footprint could reduce significantly. This reopens the questions as to whether we should still be in EPH or whether a smaller, cheaper to run alternative site is more appropriate.

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“We also need to consider what the plans of our current tenants within EPH (CAB, the Courts and Sanctuary) are. Currently none are using the building and we will need to include them in our recovery plans.”

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