I WOULD like to comment on the current development happening on Teville Gate.

Your headline in the Argus: ‘Dull? No, this amazing town is the greatest’ is true! Worthing is a great town.

The trouble is, visitors can’t find it.

Where is the seafront?

Which way is the town?

These are the two questions I get asked most frequently by visitors coming out of the main train station. They look bemused and dismayed towards the warren of roads ahead (missing the woefully inadequate signage that is already there).

So what do we do in response to this problem, to really open up our town?

We build an enormous, pre-fabricated, brick-panelled monstrosity in its way. Dominating both the skyline and eye-line, and completely bypassing a golden opportunity to develop an enticing and clear way-finding route to the town centre and seafront. No paths, no greenery, no direct route with clear signposting. Nothing of any aesthetic value.

It’s all rather underwhelming.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against big business. Far from it. Large businesses bring vital, year-round employment and revenue. But we have missed a chance here by throwing a vast brick hurdle in the way no sooner than you have stepped off the train.

What should have happened?

The development behind Brighton Station is a successful scheme which incorporates pedestrian, cycle, wheelchair, and pushchair-friendly pathways, green planting, designated areas to encourage wildlife, living walls, and clear signage. All with big businesses, gyms, car parks, hotels, residential flats, and a taxi rank sharing the space. It makes the route to and from the station an easy and pleasant experience for residents and visitors alike.

Surely that’s what we should have considered for Teville Gate, when plans for the position of this new building were being approved? A coherent and joined-up plan, showing a little more vision and ambition, to ensure that people can actually find this beautiful town we are trying to champion.

Sarah Wiltshire

Address supplied