Winds of change

Forgive me for being literal, but ‘in my view’ at the moment there is scaffolding. Lots of it. In recent weeks, I have had the privilege of watching the scaffold for the latest part of the cathedral’s essential reroofing rising before my eyes. The last few days had a particularly frantic aspect as the deadline approached for completing the scaffold and temporary roof before the start of the peregrine nesting season.

Happily everything is now in place, so our feathered friends can return undisturbed by the leadworkers on the roof .

Our re-roofing project represents a moment of change for the cathedral and the city. Those green roofs gazed down on Chichester for 70 years before the coastal winds finally did for them. That reassuringly familiar emerald colour is now disappearing, being progressively replaced by the (rather classy) grey lead.

The city the cathedral is at the heart of is also changing, as the economic winds reshaping the nation’s high streets blow in Chichester, too. We will need to adjust to a future without House of Fraser and HMV and look forward to city centre which feels different.

But Chichester will endure and prosper. It has a vibrant arts scene, a flourishing university, a wonderful tourism offering and a high street that remains amongst the most resilient in the country.

The Chichester Vision shows a clear direction for the city’s development in the coming years and the delighted response to the BID’S new Christmas lights and events showed local people will really get behind the city if we give them the reasons to do so.

Footfall in Chichester city centre was up last Christmas, bucking the trend elsewhere.

By the end of their life, 100 years from now, the cathedral’s new lead roofs will have seen plenty more change, but they will still be looking down on a thriving - and very special – city.