Planning permission in Worthing
Worthing Borough Council is the local planning authority for Worthing, a district council in the South East. Below is what its official planning data shows, what it means for the most common projects, and how to get a verified report for your exact address.
Do you need planning permission in Worthing?
It depends on your exact address. Many householder projects are permitted development and need no application — but Worthing Borough Council has 26 conservation areas and 8 Article 4 directions, and inside those the permitted development route narrows or disappears. Every application is decided against national policy and Worthing Borough Council’s adopted Local Plan. A report for your postcode tells you exactly which apply.
What Worthing has published
| Dataset · national planning data index | Published |
|---|---|
| Conservation areas | 26 |
| Article 4 direction areas (permitted development removed) | 8 |
| Tree preservation zones | 1,287 |
| Listed building outlines | 217 |
| Local Plan documents | 0 |
Counts are read from planning.data.gov.uk and refreshed daily. A zero or dash means the council has not yet published that dataset to the national index — not that the designation doesn’t exist on the ground. We show what we found and tell you what we didn’t. We never infer a restriction — or the absence of one — from missing data.
Planning permission for your project in Worthing
What the rules mean for the most common householder projects in Worthing — each grounded in the council’s designations and the official permitted-development limits.
Reading Worthing’s planning landscape
With 26 conservation areas on the official index, design and character carry real weight in Worthing decisions. Inside a conservation area the bar for external alterations rises, and some permitted development rights narrow — which side of a boundary your property sits on can change your project’s planning route entirely. Browse Worthing’s conservation areas →
Worthing Borough Council has 8 Article 4 direction areas in force. An Article 4 direction removes specific permitted development rights, so work that would normally need no application — certain extensions, alterations, even paving — can require full permission. This is the single most common surprise we find for homeowners, and it is address-specific.
Every application in Worthing is decided against national policy (the NPPF) and Worthing Borough Council’s adopted Local Plan. A Planning Policy report quotes the specific policies that apply to your project — verbatim, verified, and linked to the official documents.
Get a planning report for your Worthing address
A Planning Policy report applies the official rules to your exact property: the designations on your address, the policies that bear on your project — quoted verbatim — and what decided applications nearby show. Generated in minutes.