Worthing Councillors To Consider Two Major Town Centre Housing Developments

Wednesday, 7 June 2023 06:20

Worthing’s planning committee will meet today (June 7) to consider major housing developments on the site of two of the town centre’s most well-known buildings.

Proposals have been submitted to put three additional storeys onto the top of the Montague Centre in Liverpool Road to allow for the construction of 42 flats.

There are also new plans for the conversion of the former Debenhams building into a mixed-use site including 79 homes, the retention and refurbishment of ground floor retail space and additional first floor commercial/retail space.

The Montague Centre plans would involve building on top of part of the existing site, with one, two and three-bedroom flats proposed.

The homes would be powered by renewable energy generated by a centralised air source heat pump using a centralised system that could be connected to the Worthing Heat Network in the future.

If the scheme is approved, the developer would pay £50,000 to Worthing Borough Council to support the building of housing elsewhere in the borough to help meet its acute housing needs and £97,000 towards open space improvements. If the development proved profitable, this sum could be increased.

At Debenhams, the Art Deco frontage would be retained and restored and new retail units would be created to face onto South Street.

The new flats would be sited above the ground floor retail space and also above the Iceland car park to the rear of the building, with two new storeys being built on top of the existing floors. A total of 35 one-bedroom and 44 two-bedroom homes are proposed.

They would also be powered using energy from a centralised air source heat pump as well as potentially solar panels on its roof. The developer is also suggesting paying £150,000 to the Council to fund a travel plan to support the car-free development.

Both schemes will be considered by the committee at its public meeting at 6.30pm on Wednesday 7 June at Worthing Town Hall.
To read the documents visit https://democracy.adur-worthing.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=168&MId=1894.