Worthing seafront car park closure: Council is 'pushing ahead with the regeneration of the site'

In November 2023, Worthing Borough Council said the multi-storey car park ‘could be sold off’ to be demolished and redeveloped into new homes and a ‘gateway to the seafront’.

Then, in May 2025, the council made the decision to close the car park, to carry out urgent investigations into its condition.

The car park, off Marine Parade, is more than 60 years old and has ‘required heavy investment’ in repairs and maintenance in recent years ‘to keep it open and safe’.

It was found there there were a ‘significant number of defects’ in the building and it had to close for the foreseeable future.

The council issued a social media update on Monday, June 23.

This read: “We haven’t given you an update about Grafton recently but work is continuing in three different directions at the same time – pushing ahead with the regeneration of the site, researching how we can reopen Grafton as a car park and keeping people safe around it.

“We’re progressing with our review of the bids we’ve already received from potential partners who’d like to redevelop the site.

“At the same time, expert structural engineers from HOP Consulting are doing an analysis of Grafton to determine what could be done to make the car park safe to reopen to the public. Among their considerations will have to be how much such a project would cost and how long it would take to complete – as well as how much additional disruption would be caused in the area.”

Last week a team from HOP were on site at Grafton ‘inspecting and assessing the condition’ of the car park’s external concrete – ‘as well as metal railings and handrails on the site’, the council said.

The social media statement continued: “We’re doing regular checks like this to make sure that any necessary repairs or maintenance needed is done, so that attractions like Hollywood Bowl and Level One can remain safe and open for business as usual.

“We’re also continuing to meet with local businesses and residents to discuss what we can do to help them during this disruption.

“We’ll continue to give updates here but you can also read about what we’re doing and see our FAQs at https://www.adur-worthing.gov.uk/grafton-car-park-worthing."

Due to the ongoing closure, around 50 parking spaces are expected to be made available at Worthing’s Teville Gate site.

However, Worthing Borough Council said the spaces will ‘only be available’ to the residents and visitors registered to the town centre worker permit scheme for the High Street multi-storey car park.

It had been planned that the High Street multi-storey car park would close between June 23 and July 6 as part of Hemiko’s heat network project. However, the developer has since amended its schedule to keep the car park open at weekends.