Latest on development plans for Worthing's Teville Gate, Union Place and Grafton sites

Worthing's Teville Gate site has long been derelict. Picture by Eddie Mitchell

Worthing Borough Council acquired the Union Place site in 2018, at a cost of £10.1million, £6.9million of which was borrowed. Outline planning permission was later granted for 169 homes, commercial space, an extension to the Connaught Theatre and a 90-bed hotel. Last year, the council purchased the long-derelict Teville Gate site for £7.4million.

But the projects are now likely to take different directions following Labour’s win in May’s local elections, with Labour councillors Martin McCabe and Emma Taylor keen to maximise housing.

Ms Taylor did not rule out working with Hyde – previously announced as the preferred developer for Teville Gate – but only after a competitive tendering process.

Union Place in Worthing was used as a Covid-testing site last year. Picture: Eddie Mitchell

“We’re looking at the absolute prime spot in our town,” she said. “We’re at the point now where we’re going to introduce a tender process. It won’t be about who can build us houses for the least, it will be about the social value in the housing. We’re not anticipating this process taking very much longer.”

Mr McCabe said: “We just think it would have been irresponsible if we had come in and just automatically accepted the only offer on the table at that point. What we’ve been doing is looking at the parameters of the site, quite practical things.

“We also want to achieve a transport hub on that site because that’s been floating around for quite some time. We’re talking to a number of potential partners. There’s a lot of interest in the site, as you’d expect. Discussions are ongoing about the exact form that the transport hub will take.”

Council leader Beccy Cooper also backed a transport hub and the potential for electric shuttle buses which would stop at key locations, including Worthing Hospital and the town centre. It is hoped that a deal for the site will be announced in early 2023.

Worthing's Grafton multi-storey car park has been earmarked for redevelopment

Mr McCabe said plans for Union Place should come forward ‘in the near future’ but would be for ‘predominantly houses with a bit of commercial space’.

Ms Taylor said: “Bearing in mind the cost of living emergency and the fact that our housing waiting list is out of hand, I think it would be absolutely socially irresponsible for us to do anything but maximise social housing on the site.”

Roffey has outline planning approval at the site but Dr Cooper said ‘the conversation is not closed’. “We’re a different administration with different priorities,” she said.

One thing councillors are clear on is the fact that they don’t want to see a private cinema on the site, but Mr McCabe did not rule out an extension to the nearby Connaught Theatre.

Regarding the Grafton site, Mr McCabe said he was hoping to prepare a development brief ‘over the next few months’ but was keen to manage expectations.

“There’s nothing that can happen immediately with that site due to the contractual issues, but we want to create a plan where we can get cracking over the next few years,” he said, adding the council had been approached by ‘a number of different developers’.