Preparation work begins on Littlehampton seafront revamp project

Contractors are digging trenches at the seafront green in Littlehampton.

They will be checking where utility services are under the ground for about a week from March 15.

The scheme, which is due to begin in full later this spring, is set to improve the seafront between East Beach, South Terrace and Windmill Road through £7.2 million of levelling up funding from the government.

Plans include a pop-up marketplace off Banjo Road with four fixed stalls, rearranged coach parking on Banjo Road to accommodate the market, a new activity hub, water play area and improved pedestrian access throughout.

What the new activity hub could look like (Image: ADC)

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The South Terrace car park will be resurfaced and reconfigured to create 104 new parking spaces.

Existing toilet blocks near the Harvester will be replaced with new toilets, with a new concession building and foreshore building to act partly as storage for the RNLI.

The activity hub is planned to include a bouldering wall, beach volleyball, petanque and basketball courts.

Waterfalls, rock pools and water jets will be installed for the water play area, with social spaces throughout the development to include pergolas, picnic tables and benches, that will be shaded by new trees and plants.

An overview of the plans (Image: ADC)

A public consultation on the plans was held in late 2022 with 465 respondents.

More than 70 per cent of respondents were happy with the plans for each of the designs.

A spokesman for Arun District Council updated residents on the progress being made.

He said: “With the new Littlehampton seafront scheme work due to begin in earnest a little later in the spring, we wanted to let you know that you may start to see some activity on different parts of the seafront green.

“When work really gets going, we will update residents regularly, so they know what is going on and how it is going. We are excited for this new scheme and thank you in advance for bearing with us while we do what needs doing to deliver it.”