The initiative is one of many introduced by the City Centre Partnership, set up by Chichester District Council, to improve trading and tourism within Chichester.

At the weekend, the City played host to two of Santa’s reindeer and had a live link to the Ravenna, to enable the Mayor to turn the Christmas lights on. The Mayor, Cllr Rob Campling, was in Italy to celebrate the 10th twinning anniversary of the two cities.

‘All of these initiatives have been down to a range of partners working together,’ said Cllr Maureen Elliott, Portfolio Holder for the Economy.

‘The City Centre partnership has already started to measure the footfall within Chichester each day, in addition to providing events and attractions that will bring people to the City. All of this has been organised to help benefit local businesses.

‘The continental traders had to pay to appear at the market and this has helped to provide the money for next year’s Christmas lights. They also paid refuse, parking and accommodation costs in order to get a stall. This type of initiative benefits the whole community. In fact, from the responses received to date, 83% of businesses are in favour of further specialist markets returning to the City.’

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