Littlehampton Town Centre Public Realm Improvements
Littlehampton Town Centre Public Realm Improvements is a major regeneration project designed to make the town centre a more attractive place to visit, shop and enjoy for residents and visitors.
“Public Realm” is described as the public spaces between shops and buildings and includes the pedestrianised shopping area, town centre roads, pavements, lighting, public seating, street furniture and trees.
In 2016, the District Council ran a series of public consultation exercises on design proposals for improvements to the main shopping areas.
This included “walkabout” sessions with key stakeholders to identify problem areas, a public exhibition of the draft design plans and materials and a detailed survey of traders to explore their aspirations and hopes for the town centre.
The feedback (see Town Centre Public Realm Consultation Report 2016.pdf [pdf] 2MB), helped shape the final Littlehampton Town Centre Public Realm Improvements designs which were approved by Arun’s Full Council in 2016.
The Littlehampton Town Centre Public Realm Improvements comprises of five key phases with a total cost of around £6 million and funding of £3.5 million is now in place to deliver two key phases of the scheme.
This includes £2.45 million from the Government’s Coastal Communities Fund (confirmed in April 2019), £564,000 from Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership Local Growth Fund (confirmed in October 2019) and £200,000 from both Arun District Council and Littlehampton Town Council (confirmed in December 2019).
Arun District Council plans to apply for further external funding to complete all phases of Littlehampton Town Centre Public Realm Improvements as the project progresses.
Coronavirus Crisis
In 2020, the Coronavirus pandemic severely affected the Council’s ability to move the Littlehampton Town Centre Public Realm Project Improvements forward.
Obviously, our priority was – and remains - providing support and guidance for all the District’s shops and businesses affected by the crisis. Visit our Covid-19 Business Support pages for more information.
Your Questions Answered
We have pulled together a list of Questions and Answers (Q & A) which provides more details about the project and aims to answer any questions you may have about the scheme.
We will continue to update the Q & A document as the project progresses.
List of Documents 
Littlehampton Town Centre Public Realm Improvements timeline
March - Edburton Contractors appointed to deliver the first two phases
November – 2nd Tendering exercise undertaken
October – Initial scope of project reduced
September – 1st Procurement tender exercise reveals funding shortfall
March – first Coronavirus Lockdown
Faithful+Gould appointed to project manage the technical team
Stage 2 CCF bid submitted (Feb) for town centre improvements Phases 1 and 2 (£2.49 million).
Funding bid to Local Growth Fund (July) for Phase 3 (£1.4 million).
Award 41% of request (£564,000).
LTC and ADC both approve (Dec) contribution of £200,000 to enable Phase 3 to go ahead.
2017
Initial funding bid to Coastal Communities Fund (CCF)
for all 5 phases was unsuccessful.
2016
Town Centre Public Realm designs created by LDA and three week public consultation with public, traders and Members involved.
Good support in survey results for improvements.
Arun applied to the Coastal Communities Fund and was invited to submit a 2nd stage application.
Council agreed town centre public realm as priority project from 9 Big Ideas.
Awarded grant for design fees.
Riverside walkway (£2 million) completed.
LDA Design appointed to work up designs for town centre.
2014
9 Big Ideas for Littlehampton:
Public realm linkages between seafront,
riverside and town centre proposed.
2004
Littlehampton 2020 Vision Masterplan.
High quality public realm improvements to feature
throughout vision and focus on improving linkages.