Looking at the future of Chichester

Future Chichester comes on Tuesday, June 16 from 6pm-8pm at The Council House, North Street, Chichester and is free admission. Just turn up on the night.

The event is part of a series of events within this year’s Festival devised by Festival co-cordinator Ben Williams under the banner The Metanoia Series. Full details of the series can be found at https://www.themetanoia.com/2026

Metanoia means a fundamental change of mindset; and that’s what Ben is hoping people will bring to the Future Chichester session.

“Do you have ideas for the future of Chichester? Do you have a vision for how we can move forward as a community? Come and contribute your ideas to the discussion and learn about plans for the regeneration of Chichester that other people and organisations are proposing.

“I feel it is important to offer an opportunity for anybody that has got ideas for Chichester to come along and share them. That benefits the people that have got the ideas and that also benefits everybody else who hears them. The idea is that together we can shape something. The councils are doing an amazing job thinking about the regeneration of Chichester, and there are various consultations about that, but I don't think you can have too many ways of inviting people to share their ideas.

“This is an extension of something that we did last year and lots of people turned up. This feels like a progression. We're getting people together to gather information and possibly this could take on a regular appearance as a forum. We have got people coming along that we already know have got amazing ideas that are crystallising. There are some amazing people in the community and we want to tap into their thoughts and their skills.

“We have got the support of Jenny Andersson who specialises in this kind of event in terms of encouraging people to make the most out of their community.”

Jenny also has her own event as part of this series (Thursday, July 1, 6.30pm-8pm, Jenny Andersson – Centres For Life, The Council House, North Street, Chichester).

Ben added: “We will record everyone's ideas to generate something that we can share with people who have got the ability to do something about it.

“We are starting from the point that Chichester is already an amazing place but also that it has got huge potential. There are ways to improve it. There's a lot of pressure on our natural resources. There is a lot of pressure in terms of people wanting to build here. And there is pressure on the high street. There are lots of organisations that are already doing really great work but this is an opportunity to come together and to address those pressures and to think about them, pressures that places all over the country are facing as well.

“We would be happy to share ideas with other places. It's all about resilience, all about making ourselves resilient in the face of those pressures. Coming together feels like a really important principle.”

The 2026 Festival of Chichester is delighted to welcome back Edward Cooke Family Law as its principal sponsor. The Festival is also generously supported by Chichester City Council, firm friends to the Festival since its inception.