Proposal in place to make Worthing ‘bolder, braver and better’

The Worthing Business Improvement District (BID) event is scheduled for February 24, and is open to any town centre businesses to consider the draft business plan and to put forward any desired changes before it is put forward to ballot in the autumn.

Worthing became a BID in 2008, when businesses agreed to pay a small levy on their business rates. This funding delivers a business plan written by businesses to help improve their trading environment.

Sharon Clarke, Worthing town centre manager, said: “While BIDs are paid for by the business community, the projects also have a positive impact on the public and wider community.

“The vision of Worthing BID is for the town centre ‘to be clean, safe and vibrant, a lively heart of the community, where visitors are engaged and businesses are inspired and prosperous’.”

Andy Sparsis, a restaurateur and director of the Town Centre Initiative, has formed a document with eight points that he will be presenting at the conference.

His points include lighting up the night time economy by developing a heat map of night time economy footfall, improving women’s safety by delivering a lighting scheme around town and creating safe youth congregational areas. He also wants to bring Worthing town centre to net carbon zero by 2030 by investing into research of wave power technology and inviting companies to look at Worthing as a green power hub using natural geographic resources.

Andy said: “There is a real chance for Worthing to come back bolder, braver and better after the pandemic.

“My plan hopes to invest £1,5million in BID funding into bolder ways of reinventing the town centre by investing in Worthing residents and creating an organic, fulfilling, greener future proof economy.”