‘Dithering’ over branding

The district council has been accused of ‘dithering’ over new place branding to attract people to the area and help with postpandemic recovery.

Leaders at Chichester District Council have been accused of ‘dithering’ after asking for more information about setting up a ‘brand’ for the district.

In June, the council’s overview and scrutiny committee recommended that a specialist be taken on to come up with a ‘comprehensive place branding and district identity plan’ in an effort to aid post-pandemic economic recovery. The idea is to ensure the district attracts new business, jobs, tourism.

But rather than agree the scrutiny committee’s recommendation, a meeting of the cabinet on Tuesday, July 6, saw members ask officers to prepare another report on the matter to be considered in October.

The new report will take into account the brands which already exist – such as the Great Sussex Way and Invest Chichester – identifying any gaps in that branding.

Officers were also asked to estimate what the costs and benefits of the scheme would be – even though the report to the scrutiny committee said the outlay would be between £50,000 and £65,000.

In a statement released after the meeting, chair of the scrutiny committee Adrian Moss (Lib Dem), accused the cabinet of ‘dithering and wasting officer time’.

He added: “Lib Dems believe that the preparation of a comprehensive place branding and identity plan is critical to ensure that Chichester attracts new business, jobs, tourism and builds the correct housing.”

Leader Eileen Lintill said: “Obviously we do need to bear in mind the costs and what benefit we’re going to get from it – and that there are a lot of brands out there at the moment.

“So looking at those and seeing if we can bring them together is really good.”