'Continue supporting local businesses' - Worthing council issues plea to residents amid ongoing town centre disruption
The council said people are still able to support local businesses despite ongoing disruption in Worthing town centre.
This comes after Worthing Borough Council said it understands that roadworks – and car park closures – ‘could be putting people off’ from visiting’.
The Grafton seaside car park remains closed until further notice due to safety concerns.
The High Street multi-storey car park in Worthing will also close for two weeks in the summer – between June 23 and July 6 – as part of Hemiko’s heat network project. The eastern end of Chatsworth Road will also be closed during the construction works, and there will be a one week, night-time only closure to the section of High Street directly opposite the multi-storey car park.
"We’re suggesting some alternative parking options for our town centre that you might’ve forgotten about or not be aware of,” the council wrote on social media.
"Civic Quarter multi-storey is Worthing’s newest multi-storey car park, opening in December last year as part of the Worthing Integrated Care Centre project.
“The car park is located just to the north of our town centre near Worthing Library and Worthing Town Hall, meaning it’s less than a 10 minute walk away from the shops, services and restaurants on Montague Street, South Street and Warwick Street.”
The council said the Civic Quarter multi-storey hosts more than 170 spaces in total, some of which are dedicated to NHS staff. There are nine indoor and eight outdoor disabled spaces.
Vehicles enter the car park from Richmond Road and exit via Stoke Abbott Road.
“Please remember to either purchase a pay and display ticket from a machine and display it inside your vehicle or pay using the MiPermit app,” the council added.
"Paying by the app allows visitors to extend the length of their stay at any point without returning to the car park."
‘In light of concerns locally’, the council it had been listening to traders and business groups in Worthing to ‘agree ways that we can work with them’ to ‘help the town to continue to thrive’.
The council said: “We are freeing up parking spaces in the town centre to create extra capacity for visitors over the coming weeks. This includes working on opening up part of the Teville Gate site as additional short-term parking.”
Traders met last Monday night (June 2) to discuss the ongoing disruption – and compiled a list of demands for the council and Hemiko.
A spokesperson for the Worthing Small Traders group said: “As a group you can appreciate we are deeply concerned about the upcoming two-week car park closures and the constant disruption from the Hemiko works, which are affecting trade and footfall for large parts of the town centre in which the small traders operate from.”
In response to concerns from the community, a spokesperson for the heat network developer said: “Hemiko is committed to completing works on the Worthing Heat Network as soon as possible. We are working closely with Worthing Borough Council and West Sussex County Council to keep disruption to an absolute minimum.
“The roadworks are an unavoidable part of delivering the heat network, which will provide heat to the local hospital and council buildings. We know the summer period is important to Worthing, and we are therefore working hard to minimise disruption whilst completing construction. The programme remains under constant review.”
Meanwhile, the council has set up new webpage to ‘help residents and visitors get into our town centre’.
"From independent retail and cinemas to walks on the promenade and amazing food and drink, there’s so much to enjoy in our town centre, so we’ve created a webpage to help everyone get here, whatever their mode of transport,” the council explained.
"It includes a map showing the location of car parks across the centre of Worthing.”
The simultaneous closures of the Grafton and High Street multi-storey car parks expected to cause ‘short-term but significant’ disruption between June 23 and July 6.
“There will still be more than 1,600 parking spaces across our town centre during this two-week period and we would encourage everyone to continue supporting local businesses and enjoy all that Worthing has to offer,” the council added.
To visit the new webpage about getting to Worthing town centre, visit: www.adur-worthing.gov.uk/visitors/getting-to-worthing-town-centre/
To view a map of car parks in Worthing and the wider area, visit: www.adur-worthing.gov.uk/parking/car-park-map/
Cheaper parking for town centre workers is available at High Street and Buckingham Road multi-storey car parks through our town centre worker parking permit. More information is available here: www.adur-worthing.gov.uk/parking/parking-permits-other/town-centre-worker/