Latest plans for Teville Gate in Worthing are revealed

Worthing Borough Council has completed the £7million purchase of the site and is now looking for a company to take it over for leisure activities while a longer-term developer is sought.

It will advertise for a ‘meanwhile use’ operator to bring life back to the site with outdoor activites while plans for a new housing and retail development continue.

The hoardings which have bordered the site will soon be removed, with the pathway connecting the railway station to the town reinstated and new lighting installed.

In a similar move, the council brought in the Level 1 leisure area, operated by Sussex-based QED, at the front of Grafton multi-storey car park{ earlier this year while development proposals are worked through there.

Worthing Borough Council’s executive member for regeneration, Kevin Jenkins, said: “I’m really pleased we made the bold effort to buy Teville Gate ourselves because we are finally, after decades of having to sit by and watch as nothing happened, in control of the destiny of this key site.

“In the short term, we want to bring it back to life with a wide range of leisure activities, open space and community initiatives and are open to suggestions from tendering companies about what this might entail.

“It would be great to see people using the site for fun and relaxation and would change the atmosphere overnight as it did at Grafton.”

He added that in the longer term the council was committed to improving the quality of the housing development on the site, with more green space and a mix of housing types.

The purchase of the site, funded by borrowing, was completed last month with the council now setting a three-year target for finding a developer to purchase the site as the economy recovers and the need for affordable homes continues to grow.

The advert for ‘meanwhile use’ expressions of interests will be posted on {https://www.adur-worthing.gov.uk/estates