Worthing's council has ordered the Montague Quarter cleaned by Friday 28 August or it bills the owners. One of the two went into receivership on 28 July.

Worthing Borough Council has given the owners of the Montague Quarter until Friday 28 August to clean the shopping precinct’s paved areas, or it will send in contractors and bill them for the work.

The council named two companies in a statement on 21 August: Cayuga Developments and St. Clair Developments, which own separate sections of the precinct. It said the scale of pigeon fouling there “continues to bring down the look of the area” and “poses a health risk to passers-by”, and that it had asked both owners repeatedly to deal with it.

Public records show that one of the two named companies had receivers appointed over its Worthing town-centre freeholds four weeks before the council’s statement. The council’s release does not mention it.

What the council has ordered

The instruction is specific. Cayuga Developments has been told to clean the paved area between Liverpool Road at TK Maxx and the entrance to Nando’s by Friday 28 August, and to keep it cleaned weekly after that.

If it does not, the council says it will:

  • have contractors do the work
  • bill the owner for the cost
  • act under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014

Both Cayuga Developments and St. Clair Developments have also been told to stop birds roosting above the sections each owns. No deadline has been published for that part.

Councillor Caroline Baxter, the leader of Worthing Borough Council, said: “The Montague Quarter owners need to put this right, now. We’ve been working with them for months now, yet we are still waiting for them to properly address the problem.”

The receivership the release does not mention

ST.CLAIR DEVELOPMENTS LIMITED, company number 02930202, is listed on the Companies House register with the status “Receiver Action”.

Two receivers were appointed on 28 July 2026 by Mizrahi Tefahot Bank Limited, under powers in a loan instrument rather than by a court order. The appointment form, filed on 4 August, names the property they were appointed over. All four titles are in Worthing town centre:

  • 5 to 12 Liverpool Buildings, Liverpool Road, 35, 37 and 39 South Street, and land and buildings on the west side of Bank Passage (title WSX222579)
  • 19, 21 and 23 South Street and 13 Liverpool Road (title WSX35261)
  • freehold land lying to the south west side of Liverpool Road (title WSX204752)
  • freehold land on the east side of Liverpool Road (title SX52176)

The appointment also covers the buildings, fixtures and fittings on those sites, the rent from them, and any proceeds if they are sold.

Two things are worth being clear about. This is a receivership over particular properties, not a liquidation, and the company has not been wound up. And the receivers were appointed by the lender, which is entitled to do that under the terms of its charge; it is a step in a lending relationship, not a court finding against anyone.

But it does raise an obvious practical question about who now decides whether money is spent on cleaning and bird-proofing that land, and the council has not said publicly whether it has spoken to the receivers.

The other named company, CAYUGA DEVELOPMENTS LIMITED (10717066), is registered at 168 Church Road, Hove, was incorporated in April 2017 and is listed as active with no charges registered against it.

Neither company has published a statement about the council’s deadline.

What the law actually allows

The Act the council is relying on does not let it simply clean a private site and send an invoice. The route runs through a community protection notice.

  • A council can issue a community protection notice where conduct is having a persistent detrimental effect on the quality of life of people nearby, and is unreasonable (section 43).
  • It must give a written warning first, and allow enough time for the problem to be dealt with, before the notice can be issued.
  • If the notice is then breached, the council may have the work done itself, but only on land open to the air, and may then bill the defaulter for no more than the work cost it (section 47).
Diagram of the six steps a council must follow under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 before it can clean private land and bill the owner: a written warning, a community protection notice, a 21-day appeal window, the deadline in the notice, remedial work on land open to the air, and a bill that can itself be appealed within 21 days
The six steps between a complaint and a bill. Graphic by The Worthing Express.
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There are two appeal rights in that chain, and both matter here:

  • The recipient of a community protection notice has 21 days to appeal to a magistrates’ court, including on the ground that the deadline in it is unreasonable (section 46). While that appeal is running, a requirement to do something has no effect.
  • Anyone billed for the council’s remedial work has 21 days to appeal to a magistrates’ court on the ground that the amount is excessive.

The council has not published whether a formal notice has been served on either company, or on what date. Without that, the 28 August deadline is a stated intention rather than a legal cut-off.

The wider tidy-up

The order is part of Pride in Worthing, an initiative the council leader launched in July. It commits £175,000 of Community Infrastructure Levy money, paid by developers, to town centre and seafront work between September 2026 and March 2027. A further £200,000 is earmarked for 2027/28 and £500,000 for 2028/29.

The council publishes a weekly action plan. For the week beginning 24 August it lists surface coating work at Montague Gardens, continued repairs and redecoration of the Heene Road shelter, painting of the promenade step edges between the lido and Heene Road, redecoration of the shop and kiosk at the north end of the pier, and a twice-weekly watering round for the town centre bedding.

What it means for you

  • If you shop or trade in the Montague Quarter, watch the paved area between Liverpool Road and Nando’s over the next few days. That is the specific stretch with a date attached to it.
  • The bird-proofing has no published deadline, so the fouling itself may not stop on 28 August even if the paving is cleaned.
  • If the council does end up paying contractors, the cost falls on the landowner, not on council tax payers, provided the notice and billing steps are followed correctly.
  • You can report anything in the town centre that looks broken or dirty through the council’s Report It form, linked from the Pride in Worthing page.
  • Our Worthing planning news page tracks applications in the town centre, and our roadworks and travel page covers the multi-storey car parks nearest the precinct.

Sources