The Government sets down what is called an Objective Assessment of Housing Needs that Councils have to adopt. Those authorities not reaching 95 per cent of this target - Worthing’s figure is 35 per cent - are then being penalised by having their powers to reject developments weakened.

The latest Housing Delivery Test (HDT) figures show that Worthing has only delivered 784 homes in the last three years against a target of 2268. As a percentage this puts us almost at the bottom of the table with only Eastbourne and Southend lower.

Worthing currently has 51,800 homes of which 90% are in the private sector and the other 10% are with registered providers. We have no housing stock of our own as it was all sold off years ago. 

Current targets ask for another 14,160 dwellings to be built between 2020 and 2036 which equates to 885 per annum. 

Today, Cllr Jenkins said the figure for Worthing was impossible to meet if the Council wanted to keep the right balance between building new homes and preserving quality of life in the borough and its important open spaces.

‘We have always said these housing targets are unfair on places like Worthing and others on the South Coast,’ he said, ‘We are hemmed in by the sea and the South Downs and there simply isn’t the space to build this amount of new homes.

‘I’m angry that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities refuses to see sense on this issue. It imposes completely unrealistic targets on us and then, when we can’t reach them, ties one hand behind our back when we seek to control development by weakening our planning powers.

Cllr Jenkins said he completely recognized the need to build new affordable homes so that people could stay, live and work in the borough but the numbers needed to be reasonable.

‘People know we are bringing forward many schemes to build on brownfield sites within the town, places like Teville Gate, Union Place and others so that we can revive our centres and bring people back into town,’ he said, ‘But to reach this target we would have to build large developments on the few open spaces we have left and we are not prepared to do that.’

At an ongoing planning appeal the Council is currently fighting plans by developer Persimmon to build 475 new homes at Chatsmore Farm in what is known as the Goring Gap. 

The appeal comes against a backdrop of the publication of the Worthing Local Plan, the Council’s planning blueprint for development over the next 15 years, which designates Chatsmore Farm as, what is described as Green Gap in planning terms. This was accepted by the government-appointed Local Plan Inspector who indicated that the site should remain undeveloped.

The Council strongly believes that overall the Plan strikes the right balance between building new homes and preserving quality of life in the Borough and its important open spaces.  

The latest government figures on house building show that Worthing is one of 50 local councils, many in the South, who have not met their targets. 

Those Councils have their planning powers restricted so that their ability to refuse is much harder if the house builder insists its plans are a ‘sustainable developer’. The Council wants to have its Local Plan agreed as quickly as possible to ensure the right development is delivered in the right places.

Cllr Emma Taylor, Shadow executive member for housing at Worthing Borough Council says:

“The terminology used in these targets is confusing with ‘need’ and ‘demand’ often treated as synonymous, which they are not. Worthing Labour are committed to meeting the housing needs of those on our waiting list not catering to the demand of investors wanting to buy up swathes of new build flats by the sea before they even hit the market, causing further blockage to our residents accessing local housing. We could build the number of homes required to meet these targets but what is the point if no one on our housing list is able to access them. It would be like building hospitals but not having the nurses to staff them, it will not meet the need!

In Worthing we have some major constraints that are not taken into consideration by arbitrary housing targets. We have a tightly drawn borough boundary which sees us sandwiched between the sea and the South Downs National Park and we are already 95% developed with a severe lack of green spaces. I am concerned that by falling behind in the targets that Central Government have forced upon us without understanding the challenges we face, we will be put under pressure to identify additional sites to develop. This Council has declared a Climate Emergency and as such our first priority should be to renovate and utilise existing sites not build on our precious green spaces and countryside. Whilst I am happy to hear that the current leader of the Council, Cllr Kevin Jenkins shares some of our concerns and is ‘ . . angry that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities refuses to see sense on this issue . . ‘ I am perplexed as this is the very same Government that Cllr Jenkins serves under and campaigns for in election periods.”

According to the Ordnance Survey, Worthing has just 3.9 square metres of green space per person which is less than a snooker table each and only slightly higher than Hong Kong, one of the most densely populated places in the world!

“The Worthing Labour Group acknowledge that we are in a Housing Emergency. House prices and private rents are out of control; even housing associations are preparing to put their rents up in April and at the same time people are struggling with massive hikes in the cost of gas, electricity and food. As a result we have an ever increasing number of people in emergency accommodation with no viable move on options and because we have no council housing people’s stays in bed and breakfasts and the like are far from temporary. This has a great cost to the council and an even greater cost to the wellbeing of the people in need of housing who are increasingly being offered accommodation outside of the area, cutting them off form their vital support networks.

Whilst we acknowledge the urgent need to build more homes we also know that the current Government policy puts setting ambitious housing targets above providing the type of housing that our residents need and the communities where they can thrive. What we need is Council housing with subsidised rents that are line with local wages and for first time buyers to be given first refusal on any new developments to prevent investment buyers from taking over our Town.”