West Sussex council area

Selling Land in Adur

Adur is a small coastal district, and more than half of its land is inside the South Downs National Park. What remains is a narrow strip between the Downs and the sea, where delivery is below half of what was required and the council itself says there is not enough brownfield land to go round.

Free review of your land in Adur

We pay for the planning, at our own cost and risk
Your price is agreed up front, in writing
If planning is refused, you keep your land and owe nothing

Adur at a Glance

The district runs along the coast between Worthing and Brighton and Hove, bounded, as a 2024 statement agreed with Horsham puts it, by the South Downs to the north and the English Channel to the south. From west to east it takes in Sompting and Lancing, the Adur estuary with Shoreham Airport and New Monks Farm on its western side, Shoreham-by-Sea and Shoreham Beach, and then Kingston by Sea, Southwick and Fishersgate along the harbour. Adur shares its officers and website with Worthing, though each council has its own local plan.

48% in the Housing Delivery Test 2025. Adur built 526 homes against a requirement of 1,095.
A plan adopted in December 2017. The Adur Local Plan planned for at least 3,718 homes to 2032, which the same statement records as meeting only 53% of the need identified at the time.
Over half the district is National Park. The statement puts the share at 53%, and the Adur Local Plan covers only the land outside it.
A need the plan may not meet. In July 2024 the statement gave Adur's figure as 449 homes a year and warned that the new plan might not meet it in full.

In a district this small, the question is less whether there is demand and more where a home could possibly go. The answer is usually inside the towns, on the harbour, or on the few edges not taken by the Park, the gaps or the flood plain.

Adur in Figures

The government's latest figures for the council, and where its local plan stands.

Housing Delivery Test 2025
48%
Below 75%: treated as having evidenced unmet housing need under national policy S5.
Homes built against homes needed
526
of 1,095 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
December 2017
More than five years old, so its housing figures are usually replaced by the government's standard method.
New plan progress
Updated
Local plan update at early stage: key issues consultation 2024 to 2025, no draft yet
Checked source

Sources: Housing Delivery Test: 2025 measurement, MHCLG, published 17 August 2026; Local plans: monitoring progress, Planning Inspectorate, August 2026. Local plans move quickly, so always check the council's own website for the latest position.

The Next Adur Local Plan

The council held a Key Issues consultation from 26 November 2024 to 5 January 2025, which drew 245 responses. Its consultation statement of October 2025 draws a telling conclusion: there is insufficient brownfield land to meet the district's needs, so greenfield sites will have to be considered. For a district that has long relied on its harbour and town centres, that is a significant shift.

The council has decided to prepare the new plan under the national system introduced by the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023, and expects it to be adopted by the successor authority after local government reorganisation in Sussex. No draft plan or site list has yet been published. The Shoreham Harbour Joint Area Action Plan, adopted in 2019 and running to 2032, will not be rewritten separately; any changes to it will be folded into the new Adur plan.

Two Timetables, and Which One to Trust

Adur's 2025 to 2028 Local Development Scheme is precise about dates: scoping from September 2025, public consultation on a draft plan in November and December 2026, submission in December 2027 and adoption in June 2028. Its October 2025 consultation statement is more cautious: the regulations for the new system were still awaited, expected in 2026. The scheme was drawn up when the regulations were expected in 2025, and every later date depends on them, so the statement is the better guide to where things stand. For a landowner, the dates matter less than the direction: the council has already said greenfield land will have to be considered, and the first chance to put a site forward through the plan will come with the draft consultation, whenever it is held.

Being ready early matters when the council does call for sites. Our guide to putting land into a local plan explains what that stage involves, and we prepare the submission for any site we take on.

Where Developable Land Comes From in Adur

Inside the built-up area, national policy S4 favours suitable new homes unless the harm would substantially outweigh the benefits. With delivery at 48%, the need for them is not in doubt. The kinds of land that tend to come forward are:

Commercial and industrial plots in Shoreham, Southwick and Lancing where the business has moved on or the buildings are near the end of their life.
Garages, yards and backland behind existing streets, where a safe access can be made.
Larger gardens and houses on generous plots, where two or three homes could replace one.
Community and institutional sites that have closed or are being consolidated.
Land on the edge of Lancing and Sompting that is not in a green gap, the flood plain or the National Park.

Small urban sites bring their own questions: neighbours' privacy and light, parking, rights over a shared drive and, for any business land, whether the loss of jobs is justified. Our page on brownfield sites and old yards sets out how we approach them.

Shoreham Harbour and the Western Harbour Arm

The biggest single source of new homes in Adur is the regeneration of Shoreham Harbour. The Joint Area Action Plan, adopted in 2019, was prepared by the Shoreham Harbour Regeneration Partnership of Adur District Council, Brighton and Hove City Council, West Sussex County Council and Shoreham Port Authority.

On the Adur side, the Western Harbour Arm is identified in the 2017 plan for a minimum of 1,100 homes. The council reports that sites there are coming forward earlier and at greater densities than first anticipated. A placemaking study completed in June 2024 guides the remaining undeveloped land, with principles that include a distinctive maritime character, an inviting riverside destination and a resilient, protected riverside.

As old wharves and industrial buildings give way to flats, the character of the streets behind them changes, and plots that looked unpromising beside a working yard can become natural candidates for homes.

Green Gaps, the Airport and the Downs

The 2017 plan protects local green gaps between Lancing and Sompting and Worthing, and between Lancing and Shoreham-by-Sea across the Adur valley. They exist to keep towns apart that sit close together. The plan also recognises Shoreham Airport, which sits in the countryside and inside a gap, as a key regeneration site where some development is expected.

The same plan allocated greenfield land on the edge of Sompting, called West Sompting, and a mixed scheme at New Monks Farm in Lancing for 600 homes with employment space. Those allocations show that edge-of-town land can be released here when the evidence supports it, even on low ground.

To the north the district runs up into the South Downs National Park, where the Park Authority decides applications. On the fields just below the boundary, the key question is how new roofs would look from the Downs above and how they would change the view up to them. Beyond the settlement boundaries, the 48% result means national policy S5 treats unmet need as proven, but in Adur that argument meets the gap and landscape policies head on, and the outcome turns on the particular field.

Tidal Flood Risk and the Adur

The river is tidal through Shoreham, and the 2017 plan notes that parts of the town centre beside the Adur lie within areas at risk of flooding. In March 2019 the Environment Agency opened a new scheme of tidal walls, 7.2 kilometres long, running on the west bank from the river mouth to the A27 bridge and on the east bank from Coronation Green to the same bridge.

Published accounts give different figures for it. The government's announcement put the cost at £45 million and the protection at more than 2,300 homes and 169 businesses, while the water industry press reported £32 million and more than 2,500 properties in Shoreham and East Lancing. The likely reason is that one figure is the construction contract and the other the whole scheme, and that one count separates homes from businesses while the other combines them; 2,300 homes and 169 businesses come close to 2,500 properties. Either way the practical point is the same: the walls reduce the risk to a large part of Shoreham, but they do not take land out of the flood zones.

The sequential and exception tests still apply to sites in the higher zones. New Monks Farm shows how that can be managed: the site is mostly in Flood Zone 3a, yet the council told the examination it passed the sequential test because the district had too few sites in lower risk zones, with detailed flood work to follow at design stage. That work is demanding and expensive, and it is exactly the part we take on. Our flood risk guide explains the tests.

Land We Are Looking for in Adur

Commercial, industrial or storage land in Shoreham, Southwick, Lancing or Sompting.
Plots near the Western Harbour Arm or Shoreham town centre.
Large gardens or backland with a realistic access of their own.
Open land on the edge of Lancing or Sompting outside the gaps and the National Park.
Sites where most of the land is in Flood Zone 1, or where a flood-resilient design is realistic.
Adjoining plots whose owners are willing to put them forward together.

Whatever the site, we fund and run the planning work, from the first surveys to any appeal, and you keep full use of your property until completion. If permission is not granted, the property stays yours and you owe us nothing. The stages are set out on our how it works page.

Your Questions About Land in Adur

My land is north of the A27 on the edge of the Downs. Who decides?

If it is inside the National Park boundary, the South Downs National Park Authority decides, and the bar is very high. If it is just outside, Adur decides under its own plan and national policy. We check exactly where the boundary falls.

The council says it needs greenfield land. Does that mean my field will be allocated?

Not automatically. It means the council expects to look beyond brownfield sites in the new plan. Which fields it chooses will depend on the evidence about gaps, flooding, landscape and access, and a well-prepared submission helps.

My yard in Shoreham is still used by a business. Could it still be a housing site?

Possibly. The 2017 plan protects some business areas outright, such as Dolphin Road Business Park, so an application elsewhere would still need evidence that the premises have had their day as a workplace, or that homes would serve the town better. Gathering that evidence, including any marketing history, is part of the work we pay for.

My property is behind the new flood walls. Is it still in a flood zone?

Often, yes. Flood zones show the risk without taking defences into account, although the defences are considered when assessing how safe a scheme would be. That is why a site-specific flood assessment matters so much here.

Is a small site worth your time?

In Adur, very often. In a district with so little open land, small and medium sites matter, and we look at them with the same care as larger ones.

Tell Us About Your Land in Adur

It takes about two minutes. We only need your postcode, your name and a phone number or email; the rest helps us look properly. We reply within 2 working days, in confidence.

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Sources

We update this page when new Housing Delivery Test results or local plan milestones are published. Planning positions change quickly, so always check the council's own website before relying on it.