About Worthing
Worthing: a brief profile
A fishing village known as a smugglers 'port of call' that grew into a seaside retreat for royalty, writers and poets, Worthing is now the largest town in West Sussex with a population of approximately 100,200 people. Although not all within the local authority boundary a wider catchment area sees the town as a focal point for shopping and is thought to look to Worthing for ancillary support services. This has been estimated to be another 75,000-100,000 people from places such as Ferring, Angmering, Findon, Sompting, and Lancing.
Between the sea and the Downs
Worthing is a pleasant place to live and work having all the facilities and benefits of the coast and the South Downs close by and a good range of residential and commercial property. It is an almost wholly urban environment with the A24 and A27 delivering travellers into the heart of town. Worthing is the location for Northbrook College which has two large campuses in the borough, Worthing College and for Worthing Hospital which includes accident & emergency and maternity services. There are five train stations in Worthing, two department stores a public art gallery, two cinema's, two theatres, 4 public libraries, 23 primary (first and middle) schools, and six secondary schools. Worthing Pier is an example of restrained art deco elegance and in 2006 the Worthing masterplan which details the vision for the development of the town centre identified 17 development sites. Plans for a major new swimming pool and leisure facilities are also in place.
Some challenges
There are however some challenging issues facing our town which are interlinked and put additional demand on the community and the services here.
Population density in the town at 30.4 residents per hectare shows it is the highest of any local authority district in the county. The local economy is largely service based and financial services make up a significant percentage of this employment.
There is a high take up of social and welfare benefits and a generally low level of earnings in Worthing and there are five wards described as Local Neighbourhood Improvement Areas which means they are identified as among the more deprived areas of West Sussex.
Challenges facing some communities in these areas include some notable health inequalities including shortened life expectancy, low incomes, and large numbers of lone elderly people, inadequate housing, unemployment and high incidence of children in single parent households. There are 11 children's homes in Worthing, the highest number of any town in the county.
The Voluntary and Community Sector in Worthing
In the years since WCVS became a charity the voluntary and community sector has trebled in size. This is reflected in the diversity of activities covered by the sector and in the level of sophistication and 'professionalism' that is expected of it. It was thought in 2001 that there were perhaps 300 voluntary and community groups in Worthing. Research from 2006 indicated that there were over 175 registered charities in Worthing with up to 900 voluntary and community organisations (vco's) apparently existing in the town. This is however a fluctuating number; many groups wind-up every year. Whilst some organisations are large and well established there are also many small groups and this mirrors the national picture where small voluntary groups with less than £10,000 annual income are in the majority. Extrapolating from these figures the same research also indicated that there could be as many as 26000 volunteers in Worthing in 2006. This may appear high but in 2009 The Place Survey carried out by central government in every local authority area of England indicated 24000 people describing themselves as involved in volunteering in Worthing. Since Worthing has a reputation as being a 'caring' town it is reasonable to conclude that this level of voluntary activity has something to do with it.
