Affordable housing sum agreed for Worthing hotel site

Councillors have voted to accept a contribution of £100,000 towards affordable housing from a developer planning to convert a vacant hotel in Worthing.
Kingsway Hotel, WorthingKingsway Hotel, Worthing
Kingsway Hotel, Worthing

The planning committee had been advised to accept this latest offer for the Kingsway Hotel site in Marine Parade – which includes a clawback mechanism subject to a cap of £235,824 – which was put forward after months of negotiation.

Permission to turn the Kingsway Hotel into housing was granted in 2016, together with £235,824 for off-site affordable housing.

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But revised scheme was presented to Worthing Borough Council’s planning committee in October 2017 – and with the hotel now closed, the applicant argued just under £22,000 was due.

Faced with losing funds it had previously secured, councillors took a stand and the committee deferred its decision for the Marine Parade site, calling for negotiations.

At a second meeting in December, developer 120 Marine Parade Limited offered a sum of £70,831 – insisting any more would threaten the viability of the project.

But the committee deferred a decision again after raising questions over figures in the applicant’s viability report.

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Last Wednesday, councillors considered the results of an independent viability assessment from Gleeds, which found that a payment of £100,000 would result in a developer return of 13.92 per cent – which was ‘a level lower than a developer would expect for a project of this type’.

Councillors decided to accept the sum acknowledging that negotiations had gone ‘as far as they would go’.

Councillor Paul Yallop said: “I would have liked to have seen something closer to the original £235,824.

“But I think we have stepped towards the right direction.”
Councilor Paul Westover said he was happy to support the application but said: “It’s a shame its taken three sessions to get this far. The development could have been started a lot sooner.”

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Councillor Hazel Thorpe said: “I think the developer has shown that he is committed to Worthing. The design itself is very good. They have done a lot of work on it.”

Speaking from the public gallery, Councillor Beccy Cooper said: “I hope that stand that has been taken by the committee will be noted by developers.”

The development will include 14 apartments, two houses and nine parking spaces.