New 63-Bed Retirement Home Approved For Goring

Friday, 13 October 2023 06:23

By Thomas Hanway, Local Democracy Reporter

A new retirement home at the former HMRC site in Goring has been approved by Worthing Borough Council.

Plans show a three to four-storey, T-shaped building to include 63 extra-care apartments, a restaurant, residents’ lounge, wellbeing room, staff accommodation, electric buggy storage and 33 car parking spaces.

The development will be part of a larger Bellway Homes development on the Barrington Road site, for 287 homes, and will be managed by McCarthy Stone, which oversaw the application for the home.

The home was approved by the council’s planning committee, which was ‘happy’ with the affordable housing contribution increase from £135,000 to £240,000, and with the development meet a need in Worthing for more extra-care accommodation.

Committee members agreed that due to effects on the wider development, delivery times would be added to the approval conditions, agreeing times from 8am to 8pm. And due to the site bordering Durrington-on-Sea railway station, members also agreed dust management should be noted in the conditions, as dust from the construction of the wider development has affected passengers.

Objections from two members of the public were heard, with one saying existing residents were being ‘swarmed’ by planning applications and developments, and services were struggling to cope.

Another resident, Steven Peckham, said pressure on the A259 from the Bellway Homes and McCarthy Stone developments would need council resources in order to be relieved.

Members voiced concerns the apartments were expensive, and there was no guarantee they will be sold to Worthing borough residents once complete.

Agents for McCarthy Stone said the development ‘meets the need for the local population’, and that struggling public services puts a further need on new homes like this one.