Hall, two meeting rooms and a kitchen on Celandine Road, council-owned and open to 11pm: planners decide 11 November. The £128,832 skatepark fund is unspent.
West Durrington’s long-promised community building goes before Worthing’s planning committee next Wednesday, 11 November, with officers recommending approval. The site was earmarked for it in the estate’s masterplan in 2012.
The building would sit on Celandine Road, at the southern end of the new community park. It would belong to Worthing Borough Council once the developers finish it. Residents, groups and businesses would be able to hire the hall and the meeting rooms.
The application, AWDM/1088/26, comes from the West Durrington consortium of Persimmon, Vistry and Taylor Wimpey. The details below come from the officer’s report to the committee.
What would be built
The building is about 233 square metres, single storey inside, with a barn-style roof between 5.3 and 7 metres high. It would include:
- a main hall in the taller east wing
- a kitchen off the hall, with a serving hatch onto an outdoor seating terrace
- two meeting rooms in the west wing
- toilets, including an accessible toilet with baby changing
- an entrance lobby with a buggy store and cloakroom
- stores with outside doors, so sports kit can go straight out to the park
Outside there would be 37 parking spaces, including three for wheelchair users. Seven spaces would have electric vehicle chargers, and there would be stands for five bikes. Solar panels would go on the south-facing roof, visible from Celandine Road.
The proposed opening hours are 8am to 11pm Monday to Saturday, and 9am to 10pm on Sundays and bank holidays. Officers suggest fixing those hours by condition.
Smaller than first planned
This is not the building the estate was first promised. A 2018 permission, for a community centre with a cafe, a sports hall and changing rooms, was never built and has lapsed.
The plan changed after consultation workshops in 2023. Residents preferred two five-a-side pitches and one seven-a-side pitch to a single full-size pitch. With no 11-a-side games, the changing rooms were no longer needed, so the building shrank and the outdoor seating grew. A further consultation in November 2024 asked for a flexible, accessible, multi-use space with room for storage.
The park around it is nearly finished. Its playground and multi-use games area opened in March 2026, and the council says the sports pitches will be ready for use during 2027.
Sport England did not object. It did ask whether netball, basketball and badminton could be played in the hall. The report says the hall is mainly suited to indoor fitness rather than a formal sports court.
The bus gate question
The building’s two entrances sit either side of the camera-controlled bus gate on Celandine Road. West Sussex County Council’s highways team worried that drivers could cut through the car park to dodge the gate.
The answer is a set of collapsible bollards dividing the car park. Most visitors would come in from the West Durrington side, with eight spaces reached from Tasman Way. The highways team asked who would keep the bollards working “in perpetuity”. Its final view had not arrived when the report was written.
The one public letter on the application supported it. It also asked why the bus gate could not become a second road in and out of the estate, which still has only one.
The skatepark money
A second report on the same agenda deals with £128,832 that the developers paid the council in 2022 to build a skatepark in Northbrook or Durrington. It has not been spent.
The report on the legal agreement explains why. A council consultation in 2022 found a skatepark “is no longer the preferred leisure choice of the community”. The money can only be spent on a skatepark, and anything not committed within five years must go back to the developers with interest. The first instalment, £42,944.27, falls due for repayment on 14 March 2027.
Councillors are being asked to change the agreement so that:
- the money can pay for youth-focused sport or play facilities anywhere in Northbrook or Durrington wards, possibly more than one
- the repayment deadline moves back by about 18 to 24 months, to allow a fresh consultation
The consortium said it supports the change in principle, as long as the money benefits people on and around the estate. It added that it would “not be prepared to incur any legal or professional costs” of making the change.
What it means for you
- To speak to councillors first: public questions for the 11 November meeting must reach democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk by midday on Friday 6 November. The meeting starts at 6.30pm in the Gordon Room at Worthing Town Hall.
- If it is approved: the developers have three years to start. The report does not give a build date; officers have asked the consortium for a timetable and a plan for keeping neighbours informed.
- On the skatepark money: if the change goes through, expect a new consultation on what young people in Northbrook and Durrington want instead.
- Next to the site: land to the east is held back for a further community building, which the report says could be medical or similar services. Nothing has been applied for.
Our Worthing planning news page tracks the other big schemes in the borough. We will report the committee’s decision.
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