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# Call for positivity rather than negativity around £1.7million deal to bring food and drink operator to Lichfield
- URL: https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/call-for-positivity-rather-than-negativity-around-1-7million-deal-to-bring-food-and-drink-operator-to-lichfield/
- Published: 2024-04-20T06:02:00.000Z
- Updated: 2024-04-20T08:25:07.000Z
- Description: Negativity around plans to invest in the new Lichfield cinema development will only breed more negativity, a councillor has said.
- Author: Lichfield Live
- Tags: Politics, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-22 18:58, News

Negativity around plans to invest in the new Lichfield cinema development will only breed more negativity, a councillor has said.

Cllr Richard Cox, cabinet member for community engagement, was among those to support [the proposals for a £1.7million agreement](https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/councillors-back-1-7million-plan-to-attract-national-food-and-drink-outlet-to-lichfield/) which were agreed this week.

The money would be used to help attract The Botanist to the former Debenhams unit in the Three Spires shopping centre.

The Conservative representative for Armitage and Handsacre told a meeting of Lichfield District Council he was keen for people to see the positives of the investment in the scheme.

> “I firmly believe that we have before us a proposal that has gone through due diligence and that can be recommended to provide a food and beverage outlet of the top order as I would call it.  
>  
> “I also did my research on The Botanist and I have to say having not really understood who they were to begin with, I was completely compelled with the offer they give.  
>  
> “I think this is only going to be good news for Lichield and the Lichfield District because those outlying villages will absolutely enjoy the ability to have that eat out cinema experience that many other places have and yet we haven’t. I think the council has to have ambition. It obviously has to delvier something deliverable – I think this is.  
>  
> “It is clearly something that we can do and will do – I think this is only good news.  
>  
> “Negativity breeds negativity, so let’s have some positivity and get that ambition that this council has out there.”  
>  
> Cllr Richard Cox

Cllr Cox’s party and ward colleague, Cllr Thomas Marshall, also threw his weight behind the project.

> “If you look at the advice from Aspinall Verdi \[town planning specialists\] that the proposed financial terms and the wider regenerative benefits of attracting an operator of this calibre offset the initial investment of this council, that says everything we need to know about this project and the way forward we are proposing.  
>  
> “I have not scrutinised this to any extent compared to the extent our officers and cabinet have, but my overview is that this is a wonderful opportunity for Lichfield, it really is.  
>  
> “It is amalgamating two nationally-reputable companies of very high profile. To bring them together in this small city of Lichfield I think is propitious in the extreme and I welcome it with open arms.”  
>  
> Cllr Thomas Marshall

Labour representative Cllr Paul Taylor said that he supported the investment but recognised that the council needed to do more to explain the reasoning behind the £1.7million deal and the benefits it would provide.

> “We have an issue with messaging here as to how we talk to our residents in the district.  
>  
> “A quick read of any of the comments on *Lichfield Live* relating to this development and particularly this further spend as it was referred to will tell you that our residents don’t understand what we’re doing.  
>  
> “We are investing in our district. We’re investing in a scheme to bring money and shoppers to our district and that will benefit employers that are in that unit directly, it will benefit customers and surrounding businesses because we have greater footfall.  
>  
> “Why, one of the comments said, if The Botanist is such a good business do we need to give them £1.7million? The fact is they know they’re a good business. They know that if they set up here it will bring more people and therefore we can charge higher rents on units around it. That is why they demand £1.7million.  
>  
> “I am not supporting a £1.7million spend on fixtures and fittings – I am supporting a £1.7million investment in bringing more trade to the area and improving jobs and the economy.”  
>  
> Cllr Paul Taylor