Grafton multi-storey car park, Worthing
About the site
We want to redevelop the Grafton multi-storey car park and the land around it on Worthing seafront to help revitalise the area.
The car park has been important for the town centre since it was built in 1960 but it is ageing and run-down - and needs a large amount of investment just to keep it in use.
We think there is an exciting opportunity to replace the Grafton - along with some of the other unattractive buildings around it - with a new development that could breathe new life into both the Montague Street shopping area and our historic seafront, providing a key link between them.
The site is listed in our local plan as being suitable for redevelopment to create around 150 homes and some form of commercial use. That could mean new shops and businesses plus potential new leisure facilities.
As there is very little space in the borough to build on, we need to maximise the use of brownfield sites like the Grafton to create the extra homes our residents need, so that we can reduce the risk of our greenfield sites like Chatsmore Farm being targeted by developers.
The Grafton site includes the 440-space car park, the bowling alley, the Level 1 food and drink area, a small number of shops in Montague Street and access roads to neighbouring buildings, covering roughly the area of a football pitch. We've also bought the leases to the shops from Clarks to Argos on the southern side of Montague Street to make it easier to develop the whole site.
We've created a prospectus to find out what developers think they could do with the land to benefit our community the most. A string of national companies have contacted us to register their interest in being involved.
We're looking for someone that shares our vision of high-quality, highly-sustainable homes, attractive green areas and leisure attractions, bringing benefits for all of our residents.
We will continue to meet with our residents and stakeholders likely to be affected to ensure their voices are heard and that they are kept informed throughout the project.
Image: map of the site
Photos: Grafton multi-storey car park
Latest updates
October 2024:
We've received a large number of responses from both national and locally-based companies, who've registered their interest in being involved in working with us to transform the site and spelled out in broad terms what they think could be achieved on the land.
Some of those ideas have been very interesting, so we're taking our time to go through them all carefully and evaluating thoroughly which of them have the most potential. This is a key step towards the redevelopment of the site so we're not going to rush it.
We'll continue to provide updates on the project as they happen. As a council for the community, we'll listen to the views of the community and businesses before we make any final decisions.
Frequently asked questions - FAQs
Q. Why do you want to redevelop the Grafton site?
We want to redevelop the Grafton multi-storey car park and the land around it on the seafront to help revitalise the area. By transforming the site with new buildings and green spaces we can make the seafront and town centre more attractive and a nicer place to live, work and visit.
Q. What do you want to replace the existing buildings?
We are open to ideas for what should go on the site. The land is listed in our local plan as being suitable for around 150 new homes and commercial units, and we also want to create more of a green corridor from Montague Street to the sea, like we are doing at Montague Gardens. We want developers to come up with suggestions for what the site could become, so that we can work with the community to decide what should go there.
Q. Are you going to sell the site to a developer?
We haven't decided what the best approach for this site is yet. All options will be explored and considered to ensure that we get the best result for the community.
Q. Who is going to redevelop the site?
We don't know yet. At this stage we've asked developers to contact us if they're interested and we've had a very positive response from a number of companies. Before we select someone to work with we first need to consider all of the suggestions to decide who would be the best fit for this work.
Q. What are the timescales involved?
We haven't tied ourselves to a timeline yet - this is a very complex and important site for Worthing so we'll take the time to find the right development partner. When we do have a timeframe in mind we'll share this with the community.
Q. Don't we need the car park?
As well as the Grafton multi-storey car park, from this autumn we will have the Buckingham Road, High Street and WICC multi-storey car parks open, as well as a number of surface car parks around the town centre. The Union Gardens redevelopment will also involve the creation of a new car park for shoppers to use, so we don't believe we need the Grafton's full parking capacity. The Grafton car park has been very useful for more than 50 years but it now needs a large amount of investment just to keep it in use, which makes it uneconomical to keep as it is. Parking may still be included as part of the proposals - nothing has been decided yet.
Q. What is happening now, and happens next?
We're currently considering all of the proposals for the site that we have been sent by developers to see which of them could be suitable. Once we've done that we may draw up a shortlist of companies to speak to about their ideas so that we can make a better assessment of what they have in mind. At this stage we're only looking for ideas for the land - and no decision has been made about what we should do. We will work closely with the community and local businesses before we make any decisions about the site.
Q. How will the community be involved in deciding what should be built?
As a council for the community, we think residents should be at the heart of decision-making, especially on such an important site as this one. People have always had the opportunity to comment on proposals when they have got to the stage of being considered as planning applications but we think that's too late for the community to really shape the way forward for the town centre. Instead, we want to work closely with members of the community to make sure that the Grafton is redeveloped in the best way for the people of Worthing. We haven't yet decided how that process will work but in the meantime we'll keep residents and local businesses informed about what we're doing.
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Page last updated: 25 October 2024