Town Centre Strategy and Initiatives

Introduction

Littlehampton Town Centre is viewed as a vital area of the Town, providing residents and visitors with essential retail outlets, services – both public and private – and leisure space. Leadership from local authorities, other key stakeholder parties and the private sector is required to ensure the long-term viability of this asset.

In 2022 a strategy was developed and created following a public consultation survey. Within this, an Action Plan has been devised to highlight a range of proposals and opportunities identified by the community and stakeholders that can deliver regeneration in Littlehampton by 2030. To read the full strategy and action plan, please use the link here.

The Mission

By 2030 all those signed up to this strategy will have worked together to deliver positive change that places the Town Centre both at the heart of the Town and as a retail and leisure hub for the Eastern Arun area.

Town Centre Action Group

The Town Centre Action Group (TCAG) has been created to take forward the actions outlined in the action plan. The group is made up of key partners relevant to the work, and is chaired by the Town Mayor. The actions have been split into immediate, medium and long term, and the work is tracked by LTC to ensure the group is on target. Often, actions will be allocated to specific members when the work is relevant to them.

For more information on the TCAG and Town Centre Strategy Initiatives, please see below.

1. To work in partnership to formulate an action plan that encourages an attractive, welcoming, and thriving town centre for our businesses, community, and visitors.

Example of an Action: Utilise a grant from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to appoint an experienced company to link the business community and local authorities strengthening the role that each can play to achieve a thriving town centre.

2. To ensure that the town centre has a welcoming, safe, and attractive physical environment that supports the needs of both businesses and town centre users, enables delivery of a range of events and activities and provides a focus for a healthy and thriving community.

Example of an Action: To encourage and facilitate a range of activities and events to be held in the Town Centre.

3. To improve the commercial viability of the town centre for existing and potential new businesses.

Example of an Action: To bring more leisure and hotel facilities into the town and encourage restaurants to open in the town centre

4. To ensure that town centre accessibility is inclusive, supports all modes of transport and meets the needs of all users.

Example of an Action: Review the disc parking scheme and improve transport links to and from the Town Centre and wider town.

5. To improve interconnectivity between the Town Centre, seafront, riverside and wider Town, making access to business areas and tourist attractions much easier.

Example of an Action: Look to improve the offer of information for visitors to the Town Centre and to attract those using other facilities in the area to visit.

The Town Centre Action Group aims to meet three times a year and is underpinned by an Officer Task Group. The Actions in the strategy will need to be taken forward by all partners. The key partners, stated below, will lead on this work but other important players such as Health bodies and the Harbour Board, will be needed to assist when matters cross refer to their area of expertise.

The Town Centre Action Group

Littlehampton Town Council

  • Mayor of Littlehampton
  • Chair of Policy and Finance Committee
  • One other Member
  • Relevant Officers

Arun District Council

  • Relevant Committee Chair
  • Ward Member
  • Relevant Officers

West Sussex County Council 

  • County Division Member
  • Relevant Officers

Business/ Landlord Representatives

  • Up to four nominated business and/ or landlord representatives 

Youth Representative

  • One representative provided by Arun Youth Projects

Sussex Police

  • Divisional Commander
  • Relevant Officers

There is also the Safer Arun Partnership who bring together a number of agencies to jointly work to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour across the district. If you would like to know more about the Safer Arun Partnership, you can visit their webpage here. 

In order to track the progress of actions being undertaken by the Town Centre Action Group, we have created 'Action Progress Tables' that are taken to each meeting to update the group. The layout of these has evolved as the group has developed, and is also dependent on what topics needed to be covered in the relevant meeting. Also taken to the meeting are updates on 'Tackling Antisocial Behaviour', these were previously included in the Action Progress Tables and are now attached as a seperate report.

 

Date Of Update

Action Progress Tables

Tackling Antisocial Behaviour and Crime Updates

11 February 2025

Progress Table

Tackling Antisocial Behaviour Update

8 October 2024

Progress Table

Tackling Antisocial Behaviour Update

18 June 2024

Progress Table

Update in Progress Table

5 March 2024

Progress Table

Update in Progress Table

14 November 2023

Progress Table

Update in Progress Table

Below you will find the date, agenda and notes for each of the previous TCAG meetings:

13 May 2025

 

 

11 February 2025

Agenda

 

8 October 2024

Agenda

Notes

18 June 2024

Agenda

Notes

5 March 2024

Agenda

Notes

14 November 2023

Agenda

Notes

5 September 2023

Agenda

Notes

In December 2023, the Town Centre Action Group introduced a Newsletter for Businesses to highlight the key updates relevant to them. This Newsletter will now run seasonally, please see below for all previous newsletters.

The Littlehampton Business Forum aims to establish itself as a key stakeholder in Littlehampton and become a recognised consultative body on Littlehampton business matters, providing a unified voice among its members. Established in late 2024, Littlehampton Town Council and Consultants from Survival2Significance worked closely with businesses to develop this forum. If you are a business in Littlehampton and would like to sign up to the forum, please follow the link here. Or to receive updates for businesses from Littlehampton Town Council, please follow the link here.

The Arun Business Crime Reduction Partnership (BCRP) is a formal structure that covers a range of business crime reduction initiatives, such as the DISC app for recording and reporting incidents. It is available to businesses with physical premises in and around Littlehampton and Bognor Regis town centres at no extra cost to businesses. For more information, see the BCRP page on the Arun District Council website here.