Interactive platform launches in Worthing to answer questions about seawater quality

Released: Tuesday, 24 March 2026

Worthing's coastline is becoming interactive, as a digital engagement platform launches to answer questions and receive live updates about the town's bathing waters.

We have partnered with the Environment Agency and Hello Lamp Post, a community engagement platform that uses artificial intelligence to communicate and consult with residents.

Hello Lamp Post invites people to interact with objects or landscapes using simple messages. By scanning a quick response (QR) code or sending a text message, residents or visitors to an area can easily ask questions, access latest updates such as the sources of pollution affecting the bathing water and share their real-time observations.

New signage has been positioned along the promenade at Goring Beach, Worthing Beach and Worthing Beach House, allowing people to ask questions about the bathing waters, understand the Environment Agency guidance and importantly, receive key messages and contribute observations, such as sea conditions, birds and wildlife, and debris. This additional insight will complement existing coastal water monitoring.

PR26-035 - One of the Hello Lamp Post signs on Worthing promenade, looking towards Worthing Pier

The platform is currently available at only a select number of bathing waters across the country, and has been introduced to Worthing as part of a combined, multi-partner effort to make information about the town's coastal bathing water sites more accessible.

Worthing was nominated for the platform by the Environment Agency, which has been closely working with teams from the council and Southern Water to tackle sources of pollution impacting the town's designated bathing waters.

At bathing waters in other parts of the country where Hello Lamp Post has been deployed, the platform has successfully supplemented existing Environment Agency monitoring programmes. Information from users, alongside formal water quality data and real-time pollution updates, has given a more rounded picture of bathing waters.

Worthing has seen a welcome improvement in its recorded coastal water quality over the last year, revealed by the Environment Agency's annual classifications for the nation's bathing waters.

The government body samples the town's three bathing waters weekly between the bathing water season, which runs from May to September, helping provide an accurate picture of the types and sources of pollution impacting the town's coastal waters.

Although Goring Beach and the town's central bathing site near Heene Road have both been upgraded to 'good' classification from 'sufficient', Worthing Beach House, the stretch of sea located off Beach House Grounds, remains 'poor'.

While action is ongoing to identify and tackle the complexity of pollution sources along Worthing's coastline, the partnership is actively focusing on empowering residents and visitors with additional guidance to help inform them of real time water quality.

Hello Lamp Post has been introduced to help bridge that gap, providing an accessible and engaging way for people to find information and share what they are seeing when visiting Worthing's beaches.

Councillor Vicki Wells, Worthing's cabinet member for environmental services, said:

“Our coastline is a huge asset for people and nature. It's vital that people feel informed and confident that action and improvements are happening, but also play their part to report their observations.

“By introducing Hello Lamp Post with the Environment Agency and Southern Water, we're going further to ensure residents and visitors have easy, on site access to share what they're seeing in real time.

“This initiative supports the important monitoring work already taking place, adding a valuable new layer of engagement that helps people better understand our beaches and supports our wider efforts to improve coastal water quality.”

Cat Fuller, Area Director for Solent, and South Downs at the Environment Agency, added:

“We are delighted that this important citizen science technology is coming to the Worthing area. It will provide vital information about the water quality of these bathing waters while also collecting important citizen science information in real time.”

The interactive experience is free to use and now available by Goring Beach, Worthing Beach and Worthing Beach House. Its introduction to Worthing has been funded by the Environment Agency as part of its work to support citizen science.