It's Coming!

Are you going to see the Field of Blooms in the Cathedral or Christmas at Cowdray? Even though Storm Arwen led to the cancellation of many events last weekend, Christmas is definitely coming with lights on, festive markets and lots of opportunities to shop. Perhaps, therefore, the question I should ask is, have you got your presents yet?

Much as we like them at this time of year, we don't need festive decorations to see the beauty around us as this article demonstrates (and this one too.) That is why it is good news that organisations owning a third of England's land have signed a pact to boost biodiversity in the hope it will better protect our green spaces. There is much debate about the impact on them of current housing targets so I thought this article about a different approach might interest you, whether you feel it has merit or not.

Incidentally, Chichester has been named in the top five UK cities to raise a family, which may be about to have some interesting road changes. 

Age UK has funding to provide a free home energy check - assessing a home, giv advice on staying warm and install small bits of insulation, foam draught excluders, low energy light bulbs, letter box brushes and foil radiator panels. Nothing major, just some small changes to try and reduce draughts and energy costs. If that might be of interest please email Stephanie Matthews, their Help home manager

Staying with development, next week there is a Special Full CDC about the Southern Gateway project. Its substance is being considered under confidential matters. It is a matter of public record that Donna and I were the only Peninsula Councillors to vote against the original Master Plan because it was going to do nothing about the level crossings in Chichester and in fact intended to worsen matters by closing one. Regular readers will know we have kept a close eye since. 

In recent posts, we have kept you abreast of our fight to save the Peninsula's intermediate care facility. We are not alone in being concerned about the impact of reductions in rural services as this Itv investigation into mental health services demonstrates. 

In view of this week's developments in respect to Covid, and reports of increases locally, we are including these useful links in our next few posts: - 

• Latest guidance.

• Booking a booster.

• Order free lateral flow tests.

• West Sussex data dashboard. 

And finally: -. 

• Make your change count. 

• Christmas is coming to Cowdray. 

• CDC is counting down to Christmas. 

• If you are looking for a more unique gift, the Novium now has an online shop.

• And this is CDC’s Calendar of Meetings, and this is West Sussex.

As always, from the whole Team, stay safe.

Tim