Worthing car parking chaos: Council working to 'free up' spaces by opening part of Teville Gate site

This comes after months of roadworks which have sparked anger among residents – compounded by the closure of the Grafton seaside car park, which remains closed until further notice due to safety concerns.

Worthing Borough Council said that the 'age of the building combined with its location' means that some of the concrete inside the car park – off Marine Parade – is 'failing'.

The High Street multi-storey car park in Worthing will also close for two weeks in the summer as part of Hemiko’s heat network project.

Worthing Borough Council said the planned closure of the High Street multi-storey car park – between June 23 and July 6 – combined with the emergency closure of Grafton will lead to a ‘short-term but significant reduction’ in the number of available parking spaces in the town.

In light of concerns locally, the council said this week: “We’ve 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.

“In response, 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 .

“As you’ll be aware, we’ve had to close Grafton car park to keep people safe while we carry out urgent investigation work on it. High Street multi-storey car park will also close for two weeks later this month as part of planned works to allow the installation of the heat network.

“Even though this work and other town centre roadworks are necessary, we understand the concerns of businesses that the disruption could be putting people off from coming into Worthing.”

Teville Gate – often considered to be Worthing’s ‘biggest eyesore’ – is earmarked for a minimum of 250 homes in Worthing’s local plan but has been under-used for many years. It was previously home to a multi-storey car park but that was demolished in 2018.

The council said it wants to ‘help support our local traders’, so – ‘at their request’ – has ‘pushed back’ the start of construction of Montague Gardens until July. This will be after the High Street car park reopens.

A social media post added: “We’re really excited about how the town centre will look once the new green space is completed. You can find out more by visiting https://www.adur-worthing.gov.uk/montague-place-worthing/.”

Montague Gardens will a new green space that ‘links the town to the sea’. The works were initially estimated to cost £2.7m – but this has since been increased to £3.1m.

The update from the council comes after the latest stage of the Worthing Heat Network project was delayed after a 'burst in the water mains'.

Low-carbon energy company Hemiko has paused its works on Richmond Road and the High Street north roundabout. They were planned as part of a ‘pioneering scheme’ to bring ‘sustainable heating’ to buildings and homes in the town.

Hemiko’s social media post read: "As a result of a burst in the water mains, unrelated to our works, Hemiko has had to stand down part of its work on the Worthing Heat Network until the issue is resolved. This has delayed us being able to begin the next tranche of works on Richmond Road and the High Street north roundabout.”

Traders met on Monday night (June 2) to discuss the ongoing disruption.

A spokesperson for the Worthing Small Traders group said: “We welcomed the councils announcement on Teville Gate parking and the hold off on Montague place works whilst the car park is closed.

"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.

"This mostly being the Guildbourne Centre, Chatsworth Road, Chapel road, High Street, parts of Warwick street and then reverberating on to further areas of the town centre.”

The developer was asked by Sussex World to respond to concerns from local businesses and residents about the ongoing project and the affect it’s having on the town centre.

A spokesperson 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.”