Our Strategy

Protecting and restoring landscape, water and nature

I am delighted to introduce the new Chichester Harbour Conservancy strategy and vision for 2050.

As we envision the future of Chichester Harbour in 2050, we recognise the daunting challenges confronting conservation today. Our national landscape
faces myriad pressures; from climate change and habitat loss, to economic
constraints and water pollution. In the face of so many pressures, it’s imperative
we chart a course toward a future that addresses these pressing issues head-
on.

Our vision is not merely aspirational; it’s a guiding landmark for tangible
progress. It’s a future where Chichester Harbour stands as an example of
conservation excellence, renowned for its proactive stewardship of the National
Landscape and its commitment to safe and efficient port management.

To realise this vision, we’re committed to a strategy that places conservation
at its core. This strategy is fully supported by both myself and the board as
a robust approach for safeguarding and enhancing Chichester Harbour for
generations to come.

Our strategy serves as a bridge connecting our present reality to our
envisioned future. While the specifics of our plans may evolve over time, the
fundamental principles of our vision, centred on conservation, education, and
community engagement, will remain steadfast.

Crucial to our success will be the support and sustained funding from our key
stakeholders—the West Sussex and Hampshire County Councils, DEFRA,
and our network of supporting organisations and benefactors. With their
continued partnership, we will be able to navigate the challenges ahead and
usher in a future where Chichester Harbour thrives as a testament to the
power of collective conservation efforts.

Pieter Montyn, Chairman – Chichester Harbour Conservancy

Our Purpose

Established by the Chichester Harbour Conservancy Act We are responsible for:

  • The safety of navigation, the regulation of moorings, works and dredging, enforcement of harbour byelaws and the collection of dues and charges, in our role as the statutory Harbour Authority.
  • The conservancy, maintenance and improvement of the harbour and the National Landscape amenity area for recreation and leisure, nature conservation and natural beauty. In November 2023 all designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs), including Chichester Harbour became National Landscapes. The new name reflects our national importance: the vital contribution we make to protect the nation from the threats of climate change, nature depletion and the wellbeing crisis.

Our Values

Achieving Our Vision

  1. Prioritise Conservation by:
  • Making conservation the prime focus of the organisation.
  • Making Chichester Harbour Protection and Recovery of Nature (CHaPRoN) the conservation
    main effort within the Chichester Harbour Management Plan.
  • Having a formal survey regime in the National Landscape that enables close monitoring of the
    state of the environment.
  • Having a coherent and effective communications strategy that clearly articulates the
    importance of the National Landscape as a natural and leisure resource and engages all people
    with the aims and decisions of Chichester Harbour Conservancy.
  1. Ensure Safe and Efficient Harbour Operations by:
  • Discharging its responsibilities as the Statutory Harbour Authority effectively to deliver a safe
    and efficient harbour for all users with enhanced and modernised facilities.
  • Discharging CHC’s authority fairly through a proactive approach to enforcement of its powers
    and duties under the 1971 Act.
  1. Lead Through Education and Community Engagement by:
  • Delivering educational training in support of the National Curriculum that increases public
    awareness, including the disadvantaged young, as to the value of the National Landscape and
    the threats to its well-being.
  • Providing a well-maintained network of foot paths and cycle routes, that attract users from
    across the diverse local community and further afield
  1. Influence Local Planning and Development by:
  • Having greater influence on planning applications in and around the National Landscape. This
    should include achieving Statutory Consultee status for planning applications in the short term
    (5 years), leading to Local Planning Authority status by 2050.
  1. Achieve Organisational Excellence by:
  • Having a contented, informed and empowered workforce within a trusting environment where
    decisions are delegated down by default.
  • Being a self-critical learning organisation that strives for excellence through a desire to improve.
  • Chichester Harbour Conservancy achieving Net Zero by 2035.
  • Being an expert, astute and agile at identifying and securing investments and grants.
  • Having a rigorous risk-based approach to business management that enable agile and focussed
    interventions that maximise return and deliver value for money.
  • Securing improved, sustainable work premises by 2030.
  1. Collaborating with partners by:
  • Working with other National Landscapes (and National Parks) to lobby and secure national and
    local policies that better protect and conserve the National Landscape.
  • Leveraging Chichester Harbour Conservancy’s convening power to work closely with
    government agencies, charities (including The Friends of Chichester Harbour, The Chichester
    Harbour Trust and The Chichester Harbour Federation) and benefactors for the benefit of the
    National Landscape.
  • Being an active participant in the Chichester Harbour Investment and Adaptation Plan.
  • Forming international partnerships with like-challenged organisations to share ideas and
    develop co-operation.

Resourcing Our Strategy

Volunteers from Lockheed Martin work with Chichester Harbour Conservancy Rangers at Salterns Copse. Dec 2024

  • By creating a culture where people want to come to work and give of their best, with these efforts rewarded and celebrated. It is also a place where streamlined processes enable the workforce to deliver more by working
  • smarter not harder.
  • By maximising potential of the workforce through empowerment, delegation and trust, with our human potential aligned to the aims and aspirations of Chichester Harbour Consultancy.
  • Through provision of excellent facilities and services, ensuring Chichester Harbour remains an attractive area to all users (land and sea), generating revenue for re-investment
  • By having a successful and sustained track record of securing grants.
  • By being a wise, transparent and value for money spender of money.
  • To safeguard existing sources of revenue while continually seeking new revenue streams.
  • To adopt a ‘whole enterprise’ approach to setting annual budgets that meet Chichester Harbour Conservancy’s priorities not and in the future.
  • Through extensive deployment of a strong pool of volunteers from the local community and further afield.
  • Fund shift to Net Zero emissions for the Harbour Office and Education Centre by 2035.
  • Through longstanding and beneficial support from local and national industry/companies through their Corporate Social Responsibility programmes.
  • To seek out international collaborative partners based on skill set and competence.

Implementing the Strategy

Chichester Harbour National Landscape is a unique and precious environment. Designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1964 due to its special qualities and protected for the nation to enjoy. As such, it is a tremendous resource for wellbeing for all people across the South Coast and further afield. However, the harbour is under enormous, complex and pernicious pressure. Chichester Harbour Conservancy is committed through this strategy, to halt and reverse the decline.

This will take many years of concerted and coordinated hard work to deliver. The strategy is the conceptual bridge from
where we are to where we want to be in 2050, providing a unifying vision. It is ambitious and rightly so given the critical
value of the harbour. Its role is to set a course, not to provide the detail of what needs to be done; that is the function of
our rolling 5-year Management Plan that will operationalise delivery.

As with all strategies, it is not fixed and will have to adjust over time to changing political, economic and societal factors.
This is why it will be reviewed annually to check our intent and trajectory remains correct.