(Reposted from Adur and Worthing Council website)
A dramatic £12.5m intervention is set to be made by Worthing Borough Council to build hundreds of homes at the Teville Gate site.
A proposal is to be discussed by council leaders recommending the authority enter a joint venture partnership with an award-winning affordable homes provider to take over the site and finally bring some momentum to development which has stalled for decades.
Current owners Mosaic Global Investments Ltd has recently indicated it wants to sell the land, citing doubts caused by the pandemic as cause to end its plans for its 'Station Square' development on the site.
Fearing that another drawn out sale will further delay progress a council report says the best option may be for the authority to intervene and bring forward a plan to build 230 new homes on the site, 130 of which will be designated affordable.
The report proposes entering into partnership dialogue with VIVID, a Housing Association which already has 31,000 homes in the South of England and is keen to move into Worthing. VIVID is a strategic partner of the government's Homes England body and was named Housing Association of the Year in 2019 by What House?
Worthing Borough Council's Executive Member for Regeneration, Cllr Kevin Jenkins, said:
“For years we have worked so hard to try to bring development forward at Teville Gate but as it has been privately owned we have had little control of the outcome.
“If this proposal succeeds it means we can take Teville's destiny into our own hands. It means taking on managed risk but if successful it will bring much needed new homes and new life to this part of Worthing. Perhaps now is the time to intervene positively to help our local economy recover from the terrible effects the Pandemic has had on the entire UK.”
