A Worthing resident permit goes from £35 to £40 on 1 October and the carer permit jumps 36%. Every new charge, from the county council's own notice.
Every parking permit in Worthing’s controlled parking zones costs more from Thursday 1 October. So does on-street pay and display. West Sussex County Council published the notice on 10 September, giving three weeks’ warning, and it is the second parking rise in the town in six weeks.
The biggest rise in percentage terms is not the resident permit. It is the carer permit, which goes from £22 to £30 a year, up by more than a third. That permit is issued to a resident who is receiving regular domiciliary care, for the relatives or friends who provide it. The healthcare permit, for care workers, rises by a fifth.
For most households the number that matters is the part-day resident permit, which covers the residential zones outside the town centre. That goes from £35 to £40 a year for a first car, and from £70 to £80 for a second.
Who is putting these up, and why it is not the council you think
This is the county council, not the borough. On-street parking in Worthing is West Sussex County Council’s responsibility, and it is varying the charges in the schedule to its own 2007 consolidation order for Worthing.
The borough council runs the car parks. Its off-street charges went up separately on 24 August, by about 3.5%, under a notice dated 20 July. The two rises are unconnected, but they land five weeks apart on the same drivers.
Resident, visitor and trader permits: the new prices
Worthing’s zones split into two groups. Zones A, B and C are the all-day zones in and around the town centre. Zones D to N are the part-day zones, which are enforced only between 10am and 11am and again between 2pm and 3pm, Monday to Saturday.
| Permit | Now | From 1 October |
|---|---|---|
| First resident permit, 12 months | £35.00 | £40.00 |
| First resident permit, 6 months | £19.00 | £21.00 |
| Subsequent resident permit, 12 months | £70.00 | £80.00 |
| Subsequent resident permit, 6 months | £37.00 | £42.00 |
| Non-resident permit, 12 months | £230.00 | £250.00 |
| Doctors permit, 12 months | £140.00 | £150.00 |
| Traders permit, 12 months | £128.00 | £140.00 |
| Permit | Now | From 1 October |
|---|---|---|
| First resident permit, 12 months | £63.00 | £68.00 |
| First resident permit, 6 months | £34.00 | £36.00 |
| Subsequent resident permit, 12 months | £126.00 | £136.00 |
| Subsequent resident permit, 6 months | £67.00 | £72.00 |
| Non-resident permit, 12 months | £380.00 | £410.00 |
| Non-resident permit, 6 months | £200.00 | £216.00 |
| Doctors permit, 12 months | £250.00 | £270.00 |
| Traders permit, 12 months | £233.00 | £250.00 |
Four permits are priced the same across every Worthing zone, and this is where the sharpest rises are:
- Carer permit, 12 months: £22.00 to £30.00. Six months: £12.00 to £16.00.
- Healthcare permit, 12 months: £25.00 to £30.00. Six months: £14.00 to £16.00.
- Countywide permit, 12 months: £40.00 to £45.00. Six months: £21.00 to £24.00.
Visitor permits go up too. A book of ten rises from £6.00 to £7.00. The daily permit in a nine-hour zone goes from £2.70 to £3.15, and the weekly permit from £16.20 to £18.90.
On-street pay and display goes up as well
The pay and display rates on the street, which are separate from the borough’s car parks, rise on the same day.
| Zone | Now | From 1 October |
|---|---|---|
| Town centre CPZ, premium | £2.00 an hour | £2.20 an hour |
| Town centre CPZ, standard | £1.90 an hour | £2.10 an hour |
| Town centre CPZ, outer | £1.20 an hour | £1.40 an hour |
The outer zone rise is the steepest of the three, at 16.7%.
Builders and removal firms take the biggest hit
The charges that go up most are the ones for suspending or occupying a bay, which matter if you are having building work done, moving house or running a skip.
- Permit bays: £15 a day to £20, or £90 a week to £120.
- Pay and display bays: £25 a day to £30, or £150 a week to £180.
- Uncharged bays: £15 a day to £20, or £90 a week to £120.
- Suspending a Worthing charged bay: the flat fee goes from £40 to £45, on top of an unchanged daily tier charge of £10 or £20.
- All other bays in Adur and Worthing: £40 to £45 flat.
The three dispensation charges all rise by a third, 33.3%. A week of dispensation on pay and display bays outside your house goes up by £30.
What the notice does not change
Three things a reader might expect to see in the notice are not in it.
The council lists low emission permits at a discount: £27 a year for a first permit in zones D to N and £48 in zones A to C, against £35 and £63 at the standard rate. Those discounted rates do not appear anywhere in the notice of variation. The notice says it “only applies to the charges above” and that the 2007 order otherwise stays in force, so it does not put the low emission rates up. Check the price at the point of purchase.
Blue Badge holders can get a first permit free of charge if they do not have access to a disabled bay. That is a council rule, not a charge in the notice, and it is unchanged.
Finally, a cheaper permit is no use if you cannot get one. Some Worthing zones run a waiting list, and the council publishes which. Renewing an existing permit early is straightforward; applying for a new one in a full zone is not.
How the rises compare
The pattern is that the cheapest permits rise fastest. The carer permit is up 36.4%, the part-day resident permit 14.3%, and the all-day resident permit in zones A to C only 7.9%.
What it means for you
- If your permit is due for renewal in the next few weeks, renewing before 1 October buys 12 months at the old price. A first resident permit in a part-day zone saves £5, a second saves £10. That applies to renewals; a new application in a zone with a waiting list is a different matter.
- If you hold a carer permit, this is the biggest increase on the list. A 12-month carer permit bought on 30 September costs £22. The same permit on 1 October costs £30.
- If you are buying visitor permits, a book of ten before October costs £6 instead of £7.
- If you have building work or a house move booked, the bay suspension and dispensation fees are the ones that jumped by a third. Book and pay before 1 October if the dates allow.
- If you only ever park in the multi-storeys, nothing changes on 1 October. The borough’s off-street charges already went up on 24 August.
- Nothing in the notice changes the hours the zones are enforced, or who qualifies for a permit. Only the prices change.
Our guide to parking in Worthing sets out the zones, the enforcement hours and the car park tariffs, and the roadworks and travel page carries the closures running alongside them.
Frequently asked questions
When do the new Worthing parking permit prices start?
1 October 2026. The notice of variation is dated 10 September 2026.
Can I still buy a permit at the old price?
The notice sets the date the new charges come into operation as 1 October 2026. A permit bought before then is bought at the charge in force on the day.
Which council is putting the prices up?
West Sussex County Council. It is varying the charges in the second schedule of its 2007 Worthing parking places consolidation order. The borough council’s separate car park charges rose on 24 August 2026.
What is the difference between the all-day and part-day zones?
Zones A, B and C run all day. Zones D to N are enforced only between 10am and 11am and between 2pm and 3pm, Monday to Saturday, and permits cost less accordingly.
Are Adur permits going up too?
The same notice varies the charges for parking bay suspensions in Adur, under Adur’s 2009 consolidation order, also from 1 October 2026.
Sources
- Notice of variation: on-street parking charges 2026, Worthing Borough and Adur District, West Sussex County Council, published 10 September 2026, with the full charge tables in the attached notice
- Worthing Borough Council notice of variation, changes to parking charges in Worthing car parks, dated 20 July 2026, off-street charges from 24 August 2026
- Resident parking permits in Worthing, Adur & Worthing Councils, whose price table is headed “Prices correct as at 1st October 2025” and matches the notice’s “old charge” column
Correction, 29 September 2026: this article first gave the start date as Wednesday 1 October. 1 October 2026 is a Thursday. The date itself was right.
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