New PavilionFrequently asked questions

The question has been asked — and answered — by the village itself over many years. A 2013 questionnaire to club and social members led the committee to conclude a rebuild was the right course, endorsed at the 2014 AGM.

The village's own Neighbourhood Plan, approved by 83.2% of voters at the 2016 referendum, identified refurbishment or rebuilding of the 1971 pavilion as a necessity.

The need is also recognised beyond the village: Chichester District Council's Infrastructure Business Plan 2025–2030 lists the improvement or rebuild of the pavilion (IBP/322) as a 'Policy High' priority for the north of the district, recording the existing building as 'inadequate – needs updating' following the Chichester Playing Pitch Strategy 2018.

After a long design process with the Parish Council and Chichester District Council, planning permission for a replacement was granted in April 2025.

From several sources. The charity's own reserves: the designated New Pavilion Development Fund (£36,800 in the 2025 accounts) and the restricted Pat Creighton Smith bequest (£73,335), held for pavilion maintenance, development or renewal.

Developer contributions: the Parish Council has committed £24,000 of Community Infrastructure Levy money to the project, and a Section 106 sports contribution of £25,523, confirmed by Chichester District Council in September 2026, is earmarked for the sports pavilion under a 2015 planning agreement. Further CIL is anticipated as development in the parish continues.

Grant funding, for which a professional grant adviser has been engaged. Private donations, several of which are already in discussion. And potentially Chichester District Council itself, which in May 2026 approved almost £1m to replace the White Pavilion in Priory Park — a comparable cricket pavilion rebuilt to England and Wales Cricket Board guidance.

Village fundraising such as RunWisborough continues alongside all of it. See the Funding page for detail.

Yes — repeatedly, across fifteen years of documented consultation between 2011 and 2026. The Neighbourhood Plan process identified the pavilion's refurbishment or rebuilding as a necessity and was approved by 83.2% of voters at the 2016 referendum.

A public consultation in February 2017 drew 127 people, with 66 of the 67 who commented on the pavilion supportive. The revised design was exhibited over two days in September 2019, drawing 96 responses with 'about right' the dominant answer on every key question.

A further open morning accompanied the statutory consultation on the planning application in late 2021, and the village has been kept informed throughout via Ad Vincula and the Parish Council newsletter.

A joint communication to residents and an information event, with the building's footprint marked out on the Green, is planned for September 2026.

Because they do different jobs, and the present pavilion already works the same way. The small kitchen downstairs serves the bar — washing up, glass washing, fridges and everyday bar snacks, just as the kitchen beside the bar does today. It is not a catering kitchen and could not put out a club dinner.

Upstairs, the current building already has a small kitchenette — a sink, a fridge, a microwave and a worktop — used for setting up and clearing match teas. So two kitchens is not a new idea; the pavilion has worked that way for years. What is new is that neither of the present two can cater properly, and in the new building the upper kitchen finally can.

Both are needed because the bar is usually run by one person, so a single kitchen on the first floor would mean leaving the bar unattended for every order. The building is also designed so that the bar, the club room and the terrace can be used at the same time by different groups. The upstairs kitchen was reduced in size in 2021 at Chichester District Council's request. See Key Design Decisions.

Because it could not get through today's planning system, and it would give up the grant funding the project depends on. The 2000 permission lapsed unimplemented in 2005, so building it would mean a fresh application judged by the rules of 2026.

Since 2015 Sport England has been a statutory consultee on any application affecting a playing field, and its national policy is to oppose development on playing fields unless the facilities comply with its own and the governing bodies' design guidance — which a 26-year-old design does not. If Sport England objects, Chichester cannot approve without referring the application to the Secretary of State, and most applications where Sport England maintains an objection are withdrawn or refused.

A fresh application would also face requirements that did not exist in 2000, including mandatory biodiversity net gain, which carries real cost.

And the governing bodies do not fund buildings that fail their design guidance, so the older design would forfeit the very grants the project relies on — every pound lost in grants is a pound the village would have to raise instead. See Key Design Decisions.