Plans for a new Lidl at Downlands retail park are due to be discussed by Worthing Borough Council.

Units 2 and 3 of the retail park, one occupied by Bensons for Beds and the other the former home of Halfords which is now vacant, are between Currys and B&Q,  just off the A27.

The proposal would see units 2 and 3 joined together to facilitate Lidl’s new supermarket, with new trolley bays and service areas, the removal of a mezzanine area within the units and a redesign of the current shopfront.

It would replace some existing parking spaces with eight new disabled parking spaces and ten parent and child parking spaces, bringing the total number of parking spaces to 361.

The developer is also seeking a widening of use for the site, in order to allow the sale of food and drink there as the units are currently limited to selling ‘bulky goods’.

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There have been 62 letters of support for the development, stating that it would more convenient and easily accessed than the existing Lidl in Worthing town centre, and that both competition to other supermarkets in the area and more service to recent housing developments were positive additions to the area.

Five neutral or objection letters were submitted, two on behalf of retailers predominantly stating the impact on congestion of the A27 would be greater than has been assessed by Lidl and the council, and that Lidl’s new store would negatively impact Worthing town centre.

A representation on behalf of Waitrose said: “Alternative sales density should be applied to retail impact assessment to reflect current trading performance of Lidl stores – assumptions/conclusions in terms of Lidl business model are out of date and should not be afforded weight.

“No health check of Worthing town centre/district centres [was] undertaken to support retail impact assessment.”

Meanwhile a representation on behalf of B&Q said: “We are very concerned that the cumulative effect of the proposed Lidl and approved Costa Coffee drive-through could severely impact the operation of the roundabout access to the retail park and result in unacceptable additional delays for our customers.”

Council planning officers concluded that there would be no “adverse impact” on Worthing town centre and that it could withstand the impact of the development as the town centre was currently “performing well”. 

Planning officers concluded about traffic congestion concerns that: “Whilst it is noted that the approval of the development would increase localised traffic movements around the retail park, this would not manifest itself in material harm to the Strategic Road Network given the scale of the development proposed. 

“Although this application could have helped ease congestion by extending this left hand lane the applicants’ Consultants have argued this is unnecessary and National Highways have agreed with this approach.”

The application will be before Worthing Borough Council on Wednesday, July 12.

To view details of the plans visit https://planning.adur-worthing.gov.uk/online-applications/ with the reference code AWDM/2026/22.