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Selling Land in Adur

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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 Aduror call 020 3953 5635
  • 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

In short

We buy land with development potential in Adur and welcome land of every kind there: fields and paddocks, inherited land, old yards and larger holdings.

Adur built only 48% of the homes it needed in the government's latest count, and below 75% national policy treats the need for more homes as shown. It can also show only 3.2 years of the five years of housing land national policy expects. So a well placed field next to a town or village can make its case now, not only through the local plan, though each site is judged on its merits. Land in the Green Belt faces stricter national tests. Its local plan dates from December 2017, more than five years ago.

We look for 2 acres or more next to, or well related to, a town or village, with a road frontage or a way to get one.

The next step is a free, confidential desktop review. We tell you which route, if any, suits your land, with no obligation.

The Land We Buy 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.

Is Your Land in Adur a Good Fit?

You do not need to know the planning rules to sell land for development in Adur. These are the things that make a site a strong candidate:

  • It sits next to, or is well related to, an existing town or village.
  • A safe access onto a public road is possible, even if it needs work.
  • Most of the land is outside the highest flood risk zone.
  • It is not covered by a strong designation such as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
  • It is about 2 acres or more, or part of a larger holding.
  • Everyone who owns it is willing to consider one clear, agreed price.

If your land does not tick every box, ask anyway. Many of the sites we take on have a problem to solve, whether that is access, drainage, a tenancy or an awkward boundary, and solving those problems is our job.

Ways to Sell Your Land in Adur

There are three common ways to sell land with development potential in Adur. They suit different owners, and the right one depends on whether your land needs planning permission before it is worth more.

  • An outright sale. You sell the land as it stands today, privately or at auction. The price is what a buyer will pay for it without planning permission, and the buyer takes on everything that follows.
  • A conditional contract. You agree a sale now, but it only completes if planning permission is granted. Until then you keep the land, and the agreement sets out who applies for permission and who pays.
  • An option agreement, the route we use. We agree your price at the start, in writing, set above what your land is worth today. We then pay for and run all of the planning work, at our own cost and risk. If permission is granted, we complete the purchase and you receive the agreed price on completion. If it is not, you keep your land and owe nothing.

For land that needs planning permission before it is worth more, an option means you know your price before any work starts and never spend a penny on planning. The ways to sell land for development, compared sets out each route in full.

Selling Land in Adur: From First Call to Completion

Selling land for development under an option agreement follows the same steps wherever your land is.

  1. A first conversation. You call us or send the form on this page. We need only your postcode, your name and a phone number or email.
  2. A free desktop review. Within a few days we look at your land, the planning position in Adur and the routes open to it, and tell you plainly whether it suits us. The review is free and confidential, with no obligation.
  3. Heads of terms and the option agreement. If it suits, we agree a price with you in writing, then the option agreement itself. We contribute to your solicitor's and land agent's fees, so it costs you nothing to get it done properly.
  4. The planning work, at our cost. We pay for the surveys, the design, the planning application and any appeal. You carry on farming, grazing or letting the land as you do now.
  5. Completion. If planning permission is granted, we complete the purchase and you receive the agreed price on completion. If it is not, you keep your land and owe nothing.

How selling land for development works, step by step gives the detail of each stage and how long it usually takes.

What the Local Plan Means If You Are Selling Land in Adur

Three things shape the chances of selling land for development in Adur: the government's latest count of homes built against those needed, the council's five-year housing land supply, and where its local plan stands.

  • Housing Delivery Test 2025

    48%

    Below 75%: treated as having evidenced unmet housing need under national policy S5.

  • Five-year housing land supply

    3.2 years

    Short of five years: national policy treats this as evidence of unmet housing need. Position at 1 April 2025, measured against the standard method, 549 homes a year, plus a 20% buffer. Stated by Adur District Council.

    Checked source

  • 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

    Latest step

    Local plan update at early stage: key issues consultation 2024 to 2025, no draft yet

    Checked source

See how Adur compares with the other 187 councils we cover

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 planning detail in full

A Narrow Strip Between the Downs and the Sea

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 where 1,095 were required.
  • 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.

Selling Land in Adur Ahead of the Next 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 some greenfield sites may need 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 had expected it to be adopted by a successor authority after local government reorganisation in Sussex, which the government has since paused for review. 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 some greenfield land may need 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.

Selling Land in Adur: Where Developable Sites Come From

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.

Selling Land Near 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.

For an owner selling a former wharf or industrial plot along the Western Harbour Arm, those placemaking principles are the brief a scheme has to answer, from its maritime character to a protected riverside.

Selling Land Near the Green Gaps, the Airport or 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 evidenced, and a supply of 3.2 years adds to that evidence, for land well related to a town and served by roads and services. 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 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.

What Could Move Before 2028 If You Are Selling Land in Adur

Four things are worth following here: the land supply, the yearly delivery figures, the council that will finish the plan, and its first draft.

Land for 3.2 Years, Against 549 Homes a Year

The council's latest supply statement, published in March 2026 and based at 1 April 2025, finds 3.2 years of deliverable land. With the 2017 plan past its fifth birthday, the yardstick is now the standard method: 549 homes a year, up from the 449 quoted in July 2024, before the method was revised that December. With a 20% buffer, as the delivery test then required, the council needs 3,294 homes over five years and counts 2,115, most of them already committed, West Sompting among them.

Delivery comes next. The government issued the Housing Delivery Test 2025 on 17 August 2026, and a new edition follows each year. As long as Adur's result sits below 75%, policy S5 treats its need for homes as unmet. Each edition averages three years, so homes finished on the harbour sites the council says are coming forward early would feed in gradually rather than in one jump. A result above 75% would end that automatic finding, but a supply short of five years would still count as evidence of need, to be weighed, and the council's own conclusion that brownfield land will not go round is exactly the kind of evidence we would put forward for a well placed edge-of-town site.

Then there is the council itself. Between 12 May and 15 June 2026 the government consulted on a modified plan for two unitary councils in West Sussex. Adur would have joined Arun and Worthing in a coastal authority, with Crawley, Chichester, Horsham and Mid Sussex forming the other, and the consultation pointed to full roles from April 2028. No decision followed. On 7 September 2026 the government paused the West Sussex proposals while it reviews reorganisation nationally, and May 2027 elections will be fought on the current boundaries. Adur therefore remains the council deciding applications and preparing the plan for now.

The First Draft, and Ecology Surveys That Cannot Wait

Whenever the draft consultation opens, it will be the first time edge-of-town land is judged in public, so the evidence behind a site needs to be ready by then. Ecology surveys in particular can only be done at certain times of year, so starting early saves time. Land inside Shoreham, Lancing or Southwick does not need to wait for any of this, because policy S4 already applies.

Questions About Selling Land in Adur

Who decides on land north of the A27, on the edge of the Downs?

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 some greenfield land may be needed. 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.

Could a yard in Shoreham that is still used by a business become 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.

What price will you pay for my land?

We agree a fixed price with you at the start, before any planning work begins, and it is set above what your land is worth today. We cannot name a figure before we have looked at your land, because it depends on the site itself: its size, its access, how many homes it could take and the costs that come off land value, such as affordable housing, road works and drainage. After the free desktop review we can talk about a price, and once agreed it is written into the agreement.

When would I be paid?

You receive the agreed price on completion, once planning permission has been secured. The agreement sets out the milestones along the way, and it continues while any planning application or appeal is being decided. Until completion you carry on using your land as you do now, and we pay for all of the planning. If permission is not granted, you keep your land and owe nothing.

More Questions Landowners Selling Land in Adur Ask

The same questions come up wherever land is put forward. Each is answered in full in our guides, and where Adur stands on housing shapes which matter most here.

Selling Land in Adur? Tell Us About It

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, by phone or email, whichever you prefer.
  • The desktop review is free and confidential, with no obligation.
  • If we agree terms, we pay for all of the planning, which on a larger site can reach £300,000.
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Sources

Figures on this page come from the Housing Delivery Test 2025 (published 17 August 2026) and the Planning Inspectorate's local plan monitoring to August 2026, with newer plan milestones checked on 24 September 2026. We update the page when new results or plan milestones are published. Planning positions change quickly, so always check the council's own website before relying on it.