Lancing Village Centre

About Lancing

Lancing has a proud history and is traditionally known as a centre for retreat, care and culture.

The culture of caring continues today with local community groups such as Keep Lancing Lovely and Men in Sheds, spaces such as the Parish Halls, Chesham House and Fabric, and the community spirited businesses on the high street and in the Lancing Business Park.

Lancing has a strong 'village' identity with people experiencing a stronger sense of belonging than in other parts of England. At the same time local people are experiencing more challenges in relation to housing, cost of living and health than in neighbouring areas.

In 2023, a participative programme called Lancing Now and Into the Future was delivered to better understand these issues. Together with local people, a set of commitments and aspirations was developed to guide future improvements to Lancing's places, community and environment.

One of these priorities is to explore public realm improvements and more pedestrian-friendly spaces in Lancing Village Centre which aim to support local businesses, create greener spaces, encourage people to stay local, and improve air quality and wellbeing.

The aspiration for Lancing Public Realm Improvements, being led by Adur District Council is to create a vibrant, green space reflective of a pocket park which creates a space safe for dwelling, improving biodiversity and environmental impacts whilst also providing an opportunity to improve traffic calming and public safety. The scheme will be funded through external resources and will act as a catalyst to deliver wider interventions in the village centre.

The funds come from a Growth Deal partnership with West Sussex County Council, which can only be used for capital projects that support the local economy, such as permanent improvements to public spaces and infrastructure. They cannot be used for routine maintenance (eg fixing potholes), anti-social behaviour work, waste clearance, housing or park improvements outside the project area.

Based on the work undertaken through Lancing Now and Into the Future, the need depicted the importance of improving the public realm within the key economic zone of Lancing Village Centre. It is hoped that this project will act as a catalyst to drive future investment into Lancing.

Lancing Village Centre Public Realm Improvement scheme objectives:

Establishing a new 'green' destination, arrival zone and meeting point
Ability to design inclusive and welcoming spaces
Encourage sustainable travel options
Responding to key stakeholders through direct consultation
Improving place activation by providing improved outdoor spaces

Lancing pocket park scheme

The proposed project design for North Farm Road went through public engagement in the Summer of 2025 with pop up engagement sessions, business engagement and an online consultation process.

The images below show the proposed scheme and highlight the key features:

Making pedestrians the priority: Increasing the public bridleway to improve accessibility and crucially safety both vehicular and a widened public arena.
Enhance connectivity: Regenerating North Farm Road and Penstone Park junctions will improve
east-west connections through the village centre, complementing the existing nodes of public space along North Road.
Activate nodes of public realm: The introduction of new seating and an informal play area will create an inviting atmosphere encouraging residents and visitors to gather and spend more time in the village centre.
Bring nature to urban spaces: The inclusion of new trees and planting beds will bring nature to the residents' doorstep and improve carbon reduction in key locations and community well-being. In addition, and in collaboration with Lancing Parish to support village planters, the new planting areas will attract new wildlife to the area, improving biodiversity.

The project will deliver support to the local economy through creating a better and more attractive environment for residents, shoppers, businesses and visitors whilst also adhering to carbon reduction objectives.

Images: North Farm Road current layout and design plan (2025) - new detailed design images coming January 2026

North Farm Road - current layout

North Farm Road - proposed layout design plan (with road names)

About the public consultation

Summer 2025 saw the launch of our consultation on public realm proposals for Lancing. The consultation explored two schemes: one looking at Penstone Park and making this one way, and another looking at the above proposals for North Farm Road.

The consultation ran until the 3rd August 2025 with an online survey, and six pop-up engagement events held in Lancing, to consult with local residents about the ideas. The online survey received 272 responses with more than 70 people attending the pop-up events.

The council also attended many of the businesses along North Road for their thoughts and comments on the proposals.

We received a lot of feedback from the public, which was analysed in the summer:

Penstone Park: The feedback for a proposed one way system here raised a number of concerns, with 61% of respondents not in favour of this scheme. In October 2025 the decision was made not to pursue this aspect of the scheme and was communicated via the council's social media channels.

North Farm Road: The North Farm Road scheme received a varied response but with 57% of respondents feeling positive about the scheme and the council feeling other feedback would be addressed at the detailed design phase, it was agreed in October 2025 to progress to the next stage. The council sought approval for Growth Board funding to enable progression with the North Farm Road pocket park and to secure investment for Lancing, following previous public realm investments in Shoreham East Street and Southwick Square. These funds, as outlined above, can only be used for new capital projects, rather than maintenance.

Next steps

January 2026

A more detailed design:
Working with our contractor the council will develop a detailed design for North Farm Road, based on public feedback from our summer consultation. The council heard residents say they would like to see improved lighting, reassurances over congestion concerns and consideration into seating locations.
A further public consultation with residents and local businesses:
We will be opening a further consultation period based on the more detailed designs for public comments. Feedback will then be collated and analysed to make a final decision on this proposed scheme in Spring 2026.