What about transport?

Having been very pleased to live in Chichester for 44 years now, I was delighted to see that Chichester scored highly as a highly desirable place to live.

I love living in a fairly small market town with the Downs to the north and the sea to the south and with so much outstanding natural beauty on my doorstep.

It was a very good place for us to raise our children, the state schools are good, and I appreciate the range of culture and history so readily available, not least for amateurs.

But, amidst all the adulation and rightful celebration, there are a number of things that are far from right, and which the local authorities need seriously to address (and not just at election time):

Were I 40 years younger and seeking to buy or rent an affordable home, would I regard Chichester as quite so desirable?

Local bus services are very variable. My last bus leaves the cathedral at 1800. That’s good for a night out – or for returning to the city not that late in the evening by train!

Why is the local authority wanting to remove the transport hub at Southern Gateway?

That is the denial of a meaningful co-ordinated public transport policy.

Can the local authorities really be satisfied, given the paucity of their efforts so far, that they are truly encouraging cycling and other environmentally friendly means of travel?

The report might praise our transport links, even if I am still chuckling incredulously at that comment – first one has to be able to get into or out of the city!

How did the judges fail to notice the joys of the by-pass, the queues of traffic trying to get into the city from Bognor, or the pleasures of the congestion of Westhampnett Road?

John Newman Maplehurst Road Chichester