West Sussex council area

Selling Land in Worthing

Worthing is almost entirely built up, pressed between the Channel and the South Downs, and its local plan, adopted in March 2023, provides for only a fraction of the homes the town needs. It builds what that plan asks, with a delivery result of 142%, so land here is found mostly inside the town, and the date that could change the picture is the plan's fifth birthday in March 2028.

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A Seaside Town With Nowhere Left to Spread

Worthing Borough Council covers the town, taking in West Worthing and the former villages of Broadwater, Durrington, Goring and West Tarring, along with Findon Valley, Salvington, High Salvington and Offington. Its local plan puts the borough at 33.7 square kilometres and around 110,700 people, and describes it plainly as tightly constrained, with little scope to grow beyond its built-up area boundary without merging with Ferring to the west or Sompting and Lancing to the east.

Sea and Downs. The English Channel forms the southern edge and the South Downs National Park the northern one. The northern parts of the borough, including the Worthing Downland Estate, lie inside the Park.
Five stations on one line. Goring-by-Sea, Durrington-on-Sea, West Worthing, Worthing and East Worthing, all on the West Coastway line.
Ahead of target. The council completed 983 homes against a requirement of 690 in the Housing Delivery Test 2025, a result of 142%.
A plan less than five years old. The Worthing Local Plan 2020 to 2036 was adopted in March 2023 and runs to 2036.

Most of the plan's allocations reuse land that already has buildings on it, and that is where most opportunities for a landowner lie.

Worthing in Figures

The government's latest figures for the council, its latest five-year housing land supply, and where its local plan stands.

Housing Delivery Test 2025
142%
Meeting its housing requirement.
Five-year housing land supply
6.9 years
Five years or more of deliverable housing land. Position at 1 April 2025, measured against the Worthing Local Plan requirement of 230 homes a year, plus a 20% buffer. Stated by Worthing Borough Council, in its Annual Monitoring Report 2024-25 (June 2026).
Checked source
Homes built against homes needed
983
of 690 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
March 2023
The plan currently used to decide applications.
New plan progress
No recent stage listed
Check the council's website for its timetable.

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.

A Plan for 3,672 Homes Against a Need of 14,160

The plan sets out Worthing's objectively assessed need as 14,160 homes between 2020 and 2036, or 885 a year. It then plans for a minimum of 3,672, an average of 230 a year, and says openly that there is no expectation that all needs, particularly for housing, can be met within the borough. That is about a quarter of the need.

The inspector who examined it accepted the gap. The report of October 2022 found the requirement a reasonable and realistic assessment of the limited capacity in the borough, and concluded that the council had done everything it could realistically do to identify sites. The inspector did take one allocation out: land at Titnore Lane, where the report found a significant risk of harm to the woodland and its wildlife.

Where the 3,672 Come From

The adopted plan makes 14 allocations, five of them urban extensions on the edge of the built-up area, alongside the regeneration of town centre and employment sites and a steady flow of windfall schemes. Before this plan, the borough's average of 306 homes a year since 2006 had included a large greenfield site at West Durrington. The plan identifies nothing on that scale now.

For a landowner, the shape of that gap matters more than its size. A council that has accepted it cannot meet its need is unlikely to turn away a suitable site inside the town for want of demand, and national policy S4 already leans towards approving homes within settlements unless the harm would substantially outweigh the benefits.

The Allocated Sites, Three Years On

The council's monitoring report for 2024/25, published in June 2026, tracks each allocation, and progress is uneven:

Source: Worthing Borough Council, Annual Monitoring Report 2024-25 (June 2026).
Allocation	Where it stood in the June 2026 report
Union Place	Contracts exchanged and site clearance begun, for 216 homes
Lyndhurst Road	Technically started in June 2025, for 228 homes
HMRC offices, Barrington Road	61 homes completed during the year
Beeches Avenue	Permission granted on 4 December 2025 for 90 homes, 40% of them affordable
Caravan Club, Titnore Way	Sale to a developer approved in October 2025, for 130 homes
Teville Gate	A £5.1 million deal agreed with Homes England in March 2024
Grafton	The council relaunched its search for a developer in July 2025
Upper Brighton Road	No application submitted yet

Several of the larger schemes are now planned above the numbers the plan first gave them: Union Place was allocated for 150 homes and Lyndhurst Road for 150. Others have waited on funding or a developer. The same report records 21 appeals decided in the year, 5 of them allowed.

Sites like these come forward when an owner, a business or a public body decides the current use has run its course. That is the kind of site our page on brownfield land and yards is about, and in Worthing it is most of what there is.

Land for 6.9 Years, Measured Against 230 a Year

The monitoring report finds 6.9 years of deliverable housing land at 1 April 2025. Because the plan is less than five years old, the council measures it against the plan's own figure rather than the government's standard method:

Source: Worthing Borough Council, Annual Monitoring Report 2024-25 (June 2026).
Part of the calculation	Council's figure
Plan requirement	230 homes a year, so 1,150 over five years
Past shortfall	None: 1,160 homes were completed from 2020/21 to 2024/25, an average of 232 a year
Buffer	20%, adding 230 homes
Five-year requirement	1,380 homes
Deliverable supply	1,908 homes: 1,384 with permission, 260 on allocations without it, 146 from the land availability assessment and 118 windfall
Result	6.9 years

The council has used the larger 20% buffer even though the same report records a pass in the delivery test. Since 1 July 2026 a plan examined under an earlier framework that meets 80% or less of today's standard method figure must carry a 20% buffer when applications are decided. Worthing already uses that buffer, so the change leaves its result where it was. A year earlier, its statement at 1 April 2024, published ahead of the Chatsmore Farm inquiry, found 6.3 years on the same basis, with the buffer then tied to a failed delivery test.

What a Comfortable Supply Means for a Field

Policy S5 of the August 2026 framework supports homes outside a settlement where unmet need is evidenced, most often by a delivery result below 75% or a supply below five years, and where the land is well related to the settlement and its roads, schools and drainage. Neither measure points that way in Worthing today, and the plan's own account is that the town cannot grow beyond its built-up boundary without merging with its neighbours. The honest position is that edge-of-town land here rarely has a case now, and depends on the next plan.

Four Green Gaps and the Chatsmore Farm Story

The plan protects four Local Green Gaps, as important gaps between settlements: the Goring to Ferring gap, Chatsmore Farm, Brooklands Recreation Ground and Upper Brighton Road. The plan inspector accepted the principle.

Chatsmore Farm, north west of Goring station, shows how contested that land is. While the plan was being examined, an appeal inspector granted outline permission for up to 475 homes on most of it. In March 2022 the council wrote to the plan inspector that it was extremely surprised and disappointed, said the planning system should be genuinely plan-led, and was seriously considering a judicial review. The permission was quashed by the High Court on 1 August 2022, and the plan inspector kept Chatsmore Farm as a green gap, while removing the separate Local Green Space designations there and at the Goring to Ferring gap. The appeal was heard again at a seven-day inquiry in September and October 2024, and on 28 March 2025 a new inspector dismissed it, finding substantial harm to the green gap and moderate to modest harm to the National Park. With the council able to show 6.3 years of housing land, the scheme had no presumption in its favour.

Water Below Ground

Worthing sits on permeable ground, and the plan notes that it has a larger share of land at high risk of groundwater flooding than many parts of England. The plan names two river flood zones, the Ferring Rife in the west and the Teville Stream in the east. On a small urban site, drainage design and the groundwater evidence often matter more than the flood map, and they need to be settled before an application goes in. Our flood risk guide explains how councils weigh both.

The Land We Look for in Worthing

Commercial, industrial or storage premises in the town that are reaching the end of their working life.
Garage blocks, yards and backland behind existing streets with a workable access.
Large houses on generous plots in Goring, Offington, Salvington or Findon Valley.
Former community, office or institutional buildings, including those being vacated by public bodies.
Land within walking distance of one of the five stations.
Neighbouring plots whose owners are willing to put them forward together.

Urban sites bring their own questions, from neighbours' light and privacy to shared drives and any tenants in place. We pay for the surveys, drawings and reports that answer them, you carry on using the property until completion, and should permission be refused, the property stays yours with nothing owed. Each stage, from first review to completion, is described on how it works.

Worthing Before Its Plan Turns Five in March 2028

The Fifth Birthday and a New Yardstick

The plan was adopted on 28 March 2023. Once strategic policies pass five years old, national policy generally measures land supply against the government's standard method instead of the plan's own figure. For Worthing that means leaving behind a requirement of 230 homes a year in a town whose own plan records need of 885. We make no forecast of the result, but it is the single most important date on the horizon for land in the borough, and any site that would benefit should have its evidence ready by then.

A Review Due, but Not Yet Started

The plan commits to a review within five years of adoption. The council's Local Development Scheme for 2025 to 2028 expects that review to begin in 2028, and the monitoring report adds that no new planning documents are expected before then, with the timetable depending on the outcome of reorganisation.

Reorganisation, Paused

In May 2026 the government consulted on grouping Worthing with Adur and Arun in a coastal unitary council taking on its full role from April 2028. On 7 September 2026 it paused the West Sussex proposals while it reviews reorganisation across the country, and the elections due in May 2027 keep today's council boundaries. For now, Worthing Borough Council remains the planning authority for the borough outside the National Park.

The Next Delivery Test

The Housing Delivery Test 2025 appeared on 17 August 2026, and a new edition follows each year. At 142%, none of the consequences applies. Completions dipped to 196 in 2024/25 after 341 the year before, so delivery on the big town centre schemes will decide whether that margin holds.

What This Means for Timing

Sites inside the town fall under policy S4 and do not need to wait for any of these dates.
Larger or edge-of-town land is best prepared now, so its evidence is ready for March 2028 and for the review.
Not sure which applies? Our free review starts by answering that.

Questions About Land in Worthing

My garden in Goring is large. Could it take new homes?

Possibly. Inside the built-up area, policy S4 favours suitable new homes, and small sites and windfalls form part of the council's supply. Access, the character of the road and the neighbours' outlook usually decide it, and we check those first.

I own land in the Goring to Ferring gap. Does it have development potential?

Not under the current plan, which protects the gap, and with more than five years of land the council has no shortfall to weigh against it. Its prospects rest on the review and on how supply is measured after March 2028, and we will tell you plainly where it stands.

Is land above Findon Valley decided by Worthing?

Only if it is outside the South Downs National Park. Inside it, the National Park Authority decides under its own plan, and the bar for new homes is very high.

My business premises near the town centre may close. Is that a housing site?

It may well be. Several of the plan's allocations are office and commercial sites, such as the HMRC offices at Barrington Road. Where business space would be lost, the council may ask for evidence that it is no longer needed, and gathering that evidence is part of the work we pay for.

Does the town's shortfall against need help my application?

It helps in the background. The plan accepts that it meets only part of the need, which counts in favour of suitable sites in the town. Outside it, the green gaps and the National Park still govern.

Tell Us About Your Land in Worthing

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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.