Worthing Borough Council (WBC) commissioned us to conduct a study of car parks in Worthing Town Centre. We assessed the current and future demand and how it can be rationalised, re-provided or managed.
Worthing Town Centre comprises 18 off-street car parks, including four large multi storey car parks (MSCP). It provides c.1,600 spaces and five surface car parks (SCPs) providing c. 480 spaces. However, there is an aspiration to use some of the car parks for development. One of the four MSCPs has now closed since the project inception.
Our team explored the extent of parking shortfall (if any) after car park redevelopment. We assessed whether parking could be accommodated on existing or alternative sites using different management or operational approaches. The study aim to inform WBC decisions about the amount of parking required to serve the Town Centre needs. We also calculated the impact of the loss of parking associated with car park redevelopment.Â
The key tasks in the study were:
- Assessment of the current car parking capacity and demand over time
- Review of the potential future demand up to 2033 and likely level of under / over supply within the town
- Assessment and presentation of the options to provide additional capacity as required
- Assessment and presentation of how additional capacity could be provided, such as expansion, decking, on street parking or new sites, park and ride, expansion or sharing of private car parks, including high level cost estimates and identification of constraints
- Other options to optimise the use of available car park resource such as pricing policy, long / short stay mix, shared use, and wayfinding
- Consideration of alternative approaches to manage and reduce overall car park demand
We consulted key stakeholders as part of the preliminary scoping for this parking review. The project team met with a representative at West Sussex County Council (WSCC) to discuss strategic transport and parking and the potential plans for Worthing. We also engaged with colleagues at NSL, responsible for parking enforcement in the town.
These discussions allowed us to access key information for future plans for the town relating to parking, such as plans for a review of parking standards, potential changes to on-street parking tariffs and options to be explored for delivering additional parking capacity. The early engagement exercise provided us with valuable context and insights to inform the study going forwards.
Key to delivering the project was undertaking large scale analysis of ticket sales data to assess the existing demand for car parks in the Town Centre. A key challenge was differing data formats between MSCP and SCP data, due to different ticketing methods (barrier controlled vs. Pay and Display). The team developed Macros in Excel to analyse the large amounts of data in a time-efficient way. The data outputs then fed into a final Parking Demand and Capacity model, which formed one of the final deliverables for the project.
We delivered a report summarising the results of the work and analysis conducted. The report detailed the existing capacity and nature of use of the car parks in the town. We estimatated future demand and included it in the new Worthing Local Plan.Â
We created daily profiles for both the existing and future parking levels to undertake impact assessments of future development scenarios for the Town Centre.
The final deliverables for WBC were the Parking Demand and Capacity model and report of results and recommendations.
The Excel Parking Demand and Capacity model tool provided quick outputs of various assessment scenarios which fed into the final report. The tool enabled the user to assess supply and demand.
This tool was bespoke to WBC’s requirements, however similar principles and elements of the tool can be tailored and fed into new products developed for any future clients’ needs. The report also included recommendations for future parking demand management, with suggestions for new technological innovations to assist in demand management and maximising operational efficiency. Suggestions included; parking bay sensors feeding into real-time information, such as variable message signing and phone apps.
