Forty Years of False Starts: Can £3.1 Million Finally Make Montague Place Work?

For generations of Worthing residents, Montague Place has been neither quite a street nor quite a square.

It is the broad route that connects Montague Street with the seafront, bordered on one side by historic early-19th-century buildings and on the other by the long, blank wall of a former department store.

At its best, it has hosted cafés, markets, children’s attractions and public events. At its worst, it has been a car park, a wind tunnel, a construction site or an empty stretch of paving that people hurried through on their way elsewhere.

Now the entire space is being rebuilt again.

The £3.1 million Montague Gardens project promises trees, lawns, seating, play equipment, a stage, a living wall and a stronger connection between Worthing’s shopping streets and the sea.

But after decades of redevelopment plans—and only four years after the previous makeover—residents and traders are entitled to ask a simple question:

Will this finally solve Montague Place, or is Worthing paying to redesign the same space yet again?

The Montague Place remembered from the 1980s

By the beginning of the 1980s, the nearby Montague Street shopping area had already been pedestrianised. The wider town centre was adapting to a new retail age in which covered shopping centres, large national chains and traffic-free precincts were replacing the traditional high street.

The most significant local development of that period was the construction of the Montague Centre in the late 1980s.

Council conservation records describe how the development created a new, enclosed and angled shopping street beneath a glazed canopy. Shops, cafés, market stalls, children’s rides and street entertainers made it a busy retail environment.

The centre was also decorated with Elisabeth Frink’s monumental Desert Quartet sculptures, installed in 1989 and later given Grade II* listed status.

Montague Place itself, however, remained an awkward mixture of public space, roadway and parking.

Vehicles could enter deeply from Marine Parade, forming what planning documents called a “banjo road”. Cars occupied much of the open area between the historic western terrace and the commercial buildings to the east.

Even then, planners recognised the problem.

A council conservation appraisal described Montague Place as being of “major townscape significance”, linking Montague Street with the seafront. It said the intrusive parking prevented the area from becoming the attractive landscaped public space it could otherwise have been.

A valuable public space—or an opportunity to build?

During the following decades, Montague Place repeatedly attracted development interest.

The Worthing Society says developers attempted to build on the open space for more than 25 years, with several proposals rejected. When another application emerged in 2012, the society launched its Save Our Space campaign.

Its central argument was contained in a simple phrase:

“Montague Place is a PLACE, not a street.”

Campaigners wanted the area protected as an open civic space rather than narrowed by new buildings or converted into another shopping route. They called for landscaping and proposed a vertical garden across the prominent blank wall on the eastern side.

That campaign now looks remarkably similar to the council’s present vision: a public garden, a living wall and an area designed to encourage people to stop rather than simply pass through.

The 1990s and 2000s: useful, but never fully resolved

Montague Place continued to be used for markets, children’s fairs, outdoor cafés and occasional events.

Its width gave it flexibility, while the historic buildings along the western side gave it character. Numbers 10 to 14 Montague Place date from the opening years of the 19th century and are Grade II listed.

But the basic weaknesses remained:

• Vehicle access and parking dominated parts of the space.
• The eastern side was overshadowed by an enormous blank brick wall.
• The connection to the seafront was unclear.
• The exposed position made it uncomfortable in strong coastal wind.
• Its mixture of surfaces, roads and street furniture lacked a single identity.

The council’s own documents repeatedly proposed removing ordinary traffic, improving landscaping and creating more room for sitting, walking and events. Yet those ambitions remained largely unrealised for years.

Historic photographs from 2010 and 2013 show the surviving terrace, shops and businesses before the recent pedestrianisation work. Both are available through Geograph and carry reuse information on their individual pages.

Another regeneration in 2016

Montague Place was not simply ignored until the current project.

In 2016, investment was made in the northern section as part of wider work along the Montague Street–Montague Place axis.

Once again, the results divided opinion.

The Worthing Society reported receiving complaints about what it called the “brutalist” design of some features and the quality of newly installed paving bricks. It questioned how well treatments applied to the bricks would survive long-term wear.

This matters because the criticism heard today—that Worthing keeps rebuilding the same streets—is not entirely new.

Montague Place has been the subject of repeated interventions, each presented as an improvement, but none succeeded in settling the fundamental question of what the space was supposed to be.

2022: the cars leave—and the wiggly lines arrive

The most controversial chapter began in early 2022.

Montague Place was made car-free, temporary surfacing was installed, and new seating and sustainable planting were introduced. The council describes that work as the first stage of a longer redevelopment process.

However, it was the painted white lines running across the black surface that attracted national attention.

Residents compared them to a road layout, playground markings or meaningless scribbles. ITV reported that the lines themselves cost approximately £1,200, forming part of a wider scheme reported at roughly £200,000. Other reporting placed the temporary project’s cost at approximately £178,000.

The council defended the work as a temporary measure intended to remove vehicles, cut pollution and return the area to public use before a permanent design was developed.

That distinction is important. The temporary scheme was never presented as the final Montague Place.

Nevertheless, many residents reasonably questioned why so much money was spent on surfacing and features that would be removed only a few years later.

The public consultation changed the design

Following the reaction to the temporary scheme, the council undertook a more extensive design process.

Engagement began through the council’s Big Listen exercise in summer 2022. This was followed by walkabouts and meetings involving residents, local businesses, accessibility groups and community organisations.

A four-week public consultation in 2023 received 112 responses. According to the council, many strongly supported more planting and the idea of creating a garden running towards the sea.

The resulting scheme deliberately moves away from the hard, black surface of the temporary layout.

Its design is intended to recall the green seaside gardens that existed around Montague Place when the area was developed in the early 19th century.

What is being built now?

Construction began in mid-July 2025.

The works were originally expected to take between 12 and 15 months, with council reports indicating a target completion around August 2026. At the time of writing, the project is still progressing and parts of the site remain subject to phased access arrangements.

The finished Montague Gardens is planned to include:

• Up to 30 new trees.
• Sustainable planting and lawn areas.
• New paving and seating.
• A performance stage and sundeck.
• A prominent WORTHING sign.
• A living green wall.
• A bespoke children’s play area inspired by Sussex kelp.
• Features designed to reduce the effects of wind.
• Space for outdoor café and restaurant seating.
• A new hospitality or concession kiosk.
• Improved lighting.
• A revised pedestrian connection across Marine Parade.

The project is being managed by Worthing Borough Council, with design and construction project management led by Project Centre Ltd. The main works contractor is Edburton Contractors.

The £3.1 million cost is being met through £2.7 million from the Community Infrastructure Levy, consisting of payments from local developers, and £400,000 in pooled business rates agreed with West Sussex County Council.

That means the bulk of the project is not being funded directly from ordinary council tax receipts, although it remains public money that could have been allocated to other eligible infrastructure projects.

The price paid by surrounding businesses

The council says work has been deliberately divided into phases so customers can continue reaching the businesses around Montague Place.

It states that:

• Pedestrian access should remain available.
• Work directly across business thresholds should be carried out outside trading hours.
• Fencing should be moved as each construction phase is completed.
• Market stalls may be temporarily relocated.
• Existing outdoor seating has had to be reduced or moved.
• Businesses have been given a direct contractor contact for problems associated with the build.

That is the official position.

But uninterrupted physical access does not mean uninterrupted trade.

Construction fencing, noise, dust, reduced visibility and an environment that appears unfinished can all discourage customers. Cafés and restaurants are particularly affected when their outdoor tables disappear or people stop viewing the area as somewhere pleasant to linger.

The disruption has also arrived during a wider period of upheaval in Worthing town centre, including construction at Railway Approach and Portland Road, changes to major retail premises, and the closure of the nearby Grafton multi-storey car park.

This creates a danger that the cumulative effect is greater than any individual project suggests.

There is not yet enough published evidence to calculate how much trade individual Montague Place businesses have lost. A responsible article should not invent such a figure.

But traders deserve more than reassurance that their doors technically remain accessible. The council should monitor footfall and vacancies, speak regularly to affected businesses, promote them during the works and consider practical support where demonstrable losses arise.

Why has the project seemed so constant?

The frustration is understandable because residents have experienced three visibly different rounds of work in roughly a decade:

1. The 2016 public-realm improvements, which attracted complaints about design and materials.
2. The 2022 temporary pedestrianisation, including the heavily criticised painted lines.
3. The £3.1 million permanent Montague Gardens construction, beginning in 2025.

There were also years of planning, consultation, design revisions and changing proposed start dates.

In 2023 it was suggested work could begin as early as spring 2024. In March 2024, the projected start had moved to autumn. Physical construction eventually began in July 2025.

Some of that delay reflects consultation, funding agreements, legal permissions, utility work and the complexity of rebuilding a public space while businesses remain open.

But from the public’s perspective, the distinction between a temporary phase and a permanent phase is less important than the repeated sight of barriers, resurfacing and newly installed features being removed.

Is Montague Gardens a good idea?

The case in favour

The central idea is strong.

Worthing needs a better connection between its main shopping area and its greatest attraction: the seafront.

Montague Place occupies exactly the right location to provide it.

Replacing vehicle access and black surfacing with trees, seating and usable green space should make the area more attractive and more comfortable. A properly programmed stage could support festivals and performances. A play area gives families a reason to stop. Outdoor dining could increase dwell time and benefit surrounding hospitality businesses.

The project also protects the space from the long-running pressure to build over it.

Worthing BID has publicly welcomed the progress, while the Worthing Society—one of the strongest critics of the 2022 design—has supported the new direction and said the council listened to concerns about the historical setting.

The case against

The price and timing invite scrutiny.

Residents saw substantial money spent on a temporary scheme in 2022, only for the surface to be dug up again.

Local businesses have endured a long period of construction during an already difficult time for high-street retail. The project will only justify that disruption if it generates sustained footfall once completed.

There are also legitimate questions over future maintenance.

A garden with up to 30 trees, specialised planting, a lawn, play equipment, a stage and a living wall will require considerably more care than an area of paving.

The official visualisations show mature planting after more than five years of growth. The council itself warns that the space will not look like those images immediately after opening.

The true test is therefore not how Montague Gardens looks on launch day.

It is how it looks after five winters, budget pressures, vandalism, salt-laden winds and heavy public use.

Our verdict: a good project carrying the burden of earlier mistakes

On balance, the current transformation is a good idea.

Montague Place was never functioning to its potential. Its location, historic setting and connection to the seafront justify investment far more ambitious than some new benches and another layer of paving.

The planned garden is also much closer to what local campaigners have demanded for years: an open, green civic space rather than another road or building site.

But public scepticism is deserved.

The 2022 scheme damaged confidence because expensive-looking temporary features were installed without the public fully understanding that they would shortly disappear. Earlier improvement projects also failed to produce a lasting solution.

Montague Gardens must therefore be judged against a higher standard.

It must be finished properly. It must remain accessible. The businesses that endured the construction must benefit from the result. Events must actually be organised. Planting must be maintained. Broken furniture and damaged surfaces must be repaired before neglect becomes normal.

Otherwise, Worthing will have spent £3.1 million creating another attractive artist’s impression rather than a successful town square.

The question Worthing should ask

The debate should no longer be limited to whether people like the design.

The more important questions are:

• Will the council publish a clear completion date?
• Has the project remained within its £3.1 million budget?
• What support has been offered to businesses affected by the prolonged construction?
• Who will maintain the gardens, trees, play equipment and green wall?
• What annual maintenance budget has been allocated?
• How will the council measure whether the project has actually increased footfall and trade?
• Will public events be programmed throughout the year rather than only around the opening?

Montague Place has spent decades waiting to become something more than a route between the shops and the beach.

Montague Gardens may finally achieve that.

But after forty years of plans, paving and false starts, this cannot simply be another makeover. It has to be the one Worthing gets right.