Further Planning Update on Goring Gap

Message from Worthing Borough Council website:

Worthing’s planning committee has backed our recommendation to contest an appeal against a commercial leisure scheme on privately-owned land at Goring Gap.

The application, submitted by Mr Dixon, proposed a range of recreational and commercial activities on land at the corner of Marine Drive and Amberley Drive, including children’s sandpits, pony rides, food and drink provision, and overnight campervan parking.

The strength of local feeling about the proposed activity was clear. We received 360 letters of objection to the proposals, compared with five representations in support.

Several of the proposed activities were operating at the site over the summer, before the application had been determined by our teams and planning committee.

Discussions with West Sussex County Council, the local highways authority, were still ongoing when Mr Dixon referred the application to the Planning Inspectorate in mid-October because we had not yet made a decision. This does not prevent us from considering the application or opposing any subsequent appeal.

Goring Gap is designated as a local green gap in the Worthing Local Plan. We believe that the proposed commercial activities would be intrusive in this rural landscape, harming the character and integrity of an area valued by both visitors and wildlife.

The proposals would also undermine the physical and visual separation between Goring and Ferring, which are within the respective local authority areas of Worthing Borough Council and Arun District Council.

In addition, the application failed to comply with relevant Worthing Local Plan policies and did not demonstrate that vehicles could enter and leave the site safely or that adequate measures could address the highways concerns raised by West Sussex County Council.

We welcome proposals that enhance our coastline and open spaces for residents and visitors. However, development must be appropriate to its location and protect the special qualities that make these places worth visiting.

The planning committee has supported officers’ recommendation that the application would have been refused, and the council will now defend that position through any appeal process.