Fears new Worthing and Goring beach huts would 'open the floodgates' for more

Worthing Borough Council wants to build five new beach huts with the proposals coming before its Planning Committee today (Wednesday June 22).

Plans show four huts along the promenade and another at Marine Crescent.

Two would be sold on for private use and three would be rented out.

A report before the Planning Committee says the waiting list for a beach hut is currently ten years.

In October 2021, 1,631 people were on the list – more than double the number in 2018 (676) – and the council says the number of enquiries from potential customers has ‘steadily increased’.

But WBC withdrew a number of similar applications last year due to local opposition and the Planning Committee rejected plans for eight more in 2019 as it believed they would ‘affect the prevailing open aspect of the seafront’ and ‘set a precedent’.

The Goring and Ilex Conservation Group is one of the organisations objecting to the plans.

In a letter the group said: “There has been a recent history of Worthing [Borough] Council making planning applications for private beach huts in Goring only to receive a large number of objections and for the applications to be withdrawn.

“The Covid-19 situation may have temporarily altered the view of beach huts but we believe that this is a temporary situation and that as foreign travel opens up, the demand will wane.

“Currently it could be argued that, although part of the beach scene, there are already too many beach huts on this part of the Goring seafront which mar the view for walkers and others along this part of the coastal path.

“Elderly people on mobility scooters or wheelchairs or young families with prams and pushchairs are unable to access the beach for this stretch of nearly a mile and the gaps provide the opportunity to enjoy the sea views.

“It would seem that the current proposals are not to meet a need but are in fact to add to the council’s finances.”

The Worthing Society and the Goring Residents Association have also objected to the plans with the latter saying it could ‘open the floodgates’ to further applications.