Worthing is ready for the summer holidays!

East Beach, Worthing, Sussex

We’re ship shape and ready to welcome visitors for the summer season.

That was the message from Worthing Borough Council today as it revealed the huge amount of work and effort being put in to ensure our seafront and town centre are able to give a warm welcome to tourists and residents alike.

With little more than a week to go before the start of the school holidays licks of paint are being given, repairs made and events planned. Much of the seafront infrastructure is getting a facelift, car parks are seeing significant improvements in cleanliness and safety, and the Brooklands Park revamp continues apace.

As for activities: alfresco cinema, another Summer of Circus, further hire bike (called Donkey Bikes) stations and more summer concessions than ever before are all encouraging us to get out and about and enjoy what’s on offer.

Cllr Kevin Jenkins, Worthing Borough Council’s Executive Member for Regeneration, said:

“I’m pleased with the work we are doing to get ready for the summer holidays. Of course you could always do more if you had an unlimited budget but I’m assured we are looking spic and span.

“Much of the work goes on all year round but obviously we try to make a special effort for the summer never forgetting we are a tourist destination. We recognise the importance of our seafront and I want to assure Worthing residents we are doing all we can to spruce up our assets and bring in as many activities and events for the summer as we can for everyone to enjoy.

“Of course we also have longer terms plans to develop the the seafront including new restaurants, walkways and new vistas and we will pursue these with all the vigour we can muster.”

Here are some of the activities – little and big – underway to put a smiling face on our seafront and town centre:

  • Shelters on the promenade near to Heatherstone Road, York Road and Heene Road have been repaired and repainted;
  • Refurbishment of the promenade shelter by Denton Gardens is nearly complete;
  • Parade railings all along the seafront and at entry points to the promenade and around the Lido are being repaired and repainted;
  • Plantation toilets has seen re-roofing and complete uPVC window replacement and re-painting;
  • 50 seats along the promenade are being been repainted;
  • Some beach huts have been repaired and given new roofs. All the Beach huts are to be cleaned, repaired and redecorated during this year;
  • Water Wise playground opposite Marine Gardens has seen repainting;
  • Hard work has been carried out by the team on the seafront Tamarisk hedge in very hot weather. In the winter the team will return in the winter to reduce the hedge from the road;
  • Community groups help gardens and parks officers weed areas including the Oaks community group helping out at the Goring Gap plantation, and the Good Gym at Heene Terrace;
  • Redecoration of the sails in front of Pavilion Theatre;
  • Grafton multi-storey car park being repaired and repainted, including staircases and lift lobby areas. Work has also been done to reduce bird nesting and there has been extensive redecoration of external railings;
  • CCTV in all multi-storeys car parks – High St, Buckingham & Grafton – replaced to improve safety and service;
  • Replacement is underway of all lamps in the promenade lighting columns with energy efficient LED replacement lamps;
  • The Council’s Beach Office completely repaired and redecorated;
  • Lighting in High Street and Buckingham car parks replaced with more efficient lighting in a scheme which will save thousands of pounds each year;
  • The lifts in Buckingham car park replaced;
  • Wildflowers are beginning to appear in green spaces throughout the borough. This follows work by park rangers and grounds maintenance teams and over 10 council-led community seed planting events;Wildflowers
  • West Goring Greensward has been regularly weeded, mowed, bins emptied and pathways cleaned;
  • Marine Gardens has applied for a Green Flag national award for excellence which recognises and rewards well managed parks and green spaces (Beach House Park achieved the award in 2017 for the first time and has applied this year too);
  • Steyne Gardens hosts a major events arena which together with the Gardens is maintained, cleared and cleaned after events to maintain it as a safe space for everyone to use;
  • A World War one allotment has been planted at Beach House Park. The chalets and kiosks in the park have been repainted, and Beach House Park is currently a Green Flag Award holder, nationally recognised as a well managed park;
  • On average 18 tonnes of rubbish collected from 200 bins along the seafront from Ferring to Worthing every week;
  • Cleaning of the seafront and foreshore taking place daily, 364 days of the year;
  • Deep cleaning of the shelters taking place regularly;
  • Parks team maintaining a number of major open spaces between Goring and Brooklands;
  • A six figure revamp of Brooklands Park. This includes dredging out 19,000 cubic metres of silt from the lake, installing further islands on the lake, planting new vegetation to encourage more wildlife diversity, the narrowing of Teville Stream, and the creation of pools to create a more diverse habitat for fish species;
  • New exercise equipment has been installed on Windsor Lawns;
  • New picnic tables and benches with wheelchair access have also been installed at Windsor Lawns;
  • Pick up points for the Donkey bikes have been increased. There are now three new stands at Premier Inn, bringing the total to five pick-up points around town;
  • ‘How to’ metal information panels for the Donkey bikes are also being installed at each pick-up point;
  • Worthing seafront has more summer concessions than ever before – 17 small-scale enterprises working on or near the seafront for the duration of the summer. GLO wellbeing, which offers stand-up paddleboarding, has reported a bumper season so far, said: “It’s going so incredibly well; beyond our dreams to be honest. The public of all generations have been amazing and so supportive. There’s a real sense of community growing, which is what we hoped for.”;
  • The town’s first ever alfresco cinema will open at Denton Gardens, next to Beach House Park on Brighton Road;
  • Summer of Circus events continue to bring new and experimental theatre to Worthing;
  • A new interactive digital walking map on the Discover Worthing website for exploring the town;
  • A new rescue kayak has joined the Beach Office and Patrol service;
  • Worthing Beach has won a Seaside Award this year. Overseen by Keep Britain Tidy, the honour recognises and rewards beaches that achieve the highest standards of beach management and for bathing beaches, ranks them as amongst the best in England;
  • The Beach Office is working with local tenant fishermen on our seafront to help this iconic profession engrained in Worthing’s heritage survive and prosper. This includes offering a yearly amnesty to smarten up the fishing boat zones. The beach office wants to make it easier to put a boat or dingy, either commercial or domestic, on the beach should you want to;
  • New programme of town centre conservation underway. Working with property owners and conservationists, such as the Worthing Society, trees are being cut back, graffiti is being tackled and the Council is using its planning powers to encourage more freehold owners to improve the appearance of their buildings;
  • Worthing has been registered as a cycling without age chapter to help the elderly get  back on bicycles. As part of this, the Councils are working with local partners and residents to bring a small number of trishaws to Worthing. These are bicycles, with seats on the front. Ridden by volunteers, they will give elderly residents of care homes pleasure rides on the promenade;
  • Conservation project to preserve Worthing’s last wooden Clinker boat underway with proposed positioning near the Lido;
  • Free-to-use deck chairs are now available with the request to return them to the Beach office when finished with;
  • The Beach Office runs a free wristband scheme in conjunction with the Marine Coastguard Agency to help minimise the problem of lost children;
  • Volunteer Greeters will be on the seafront, amongst other locations, spreading their knowledge about and love for the town;
  • Pick up a litter picker and bag from the beach front office and spend two minutes picking up rubbish on the seafront as part of our keep the beach tidy efforts. Be part of the solution, not the pollution! And please make sure to return the litter picker;
  • Beach taps with drinkable water all away along the seafront. Download the refill app to find out where;
  • Plans advanced for a new seafront restaurant in a former shelter opposite West Buildings have been unveiled. French restaurant Bistrot Pierre is already consulting on project;
  • A further proposal to create a similar landmark restaurant in the seafront shelter opposite Steyne Gardens is also underway;
  • Plans to open up South Street and Portland Road with tree lined avenues and alfresco eating have been unveiled;
  • Black way-finding finger posts being repaired/repainted;
  • Our iconic council-owned Worthing Pier is maintained and repaired on a rolling basis throughout the year.

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