IKEA Lancing: timeline from plans approved to flatpack giant pulling out

With the news IKEA has been invited to ‘scout’ a Sussex town, we look back at plans for what would have been the firm’s first Sussex store, in Lancing.
A model showing how the New Monks Park development would have looked, with IKEA in the top-leftA model showing how the New Monks Park development would have looked, with IKEA in the top-left
A model showing how the New Monks Park development would have looked, with IKEA in the top-left

Eastbourne MP Caroline Ansell posted on social media: “Just invited team IKEA to Eastbourne to scout the town... They are looking to a new model adding smaller, more localised stores to their business.”

IKEA previously had plans for a store in Sussex. But a year and a half ago it announced it would no longer progress with the planned development at New Monks Farm, off the A27 at Lancing, and intended to sell the land. But how did we get here?

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Plans for 600 new homes and the IKEA store at New Monks Farm, off the A27 at Lancing, were approved by Adur District Council’s planning committee in October, 2018 – 18 months after they were first announced.

Predictably, local reaction to the plans getting the green light was mixed, with people in favour of them and also concerned about the impact on the environment and local community.

It was not until February, 2020, that work was officially allowed to begin, following concerns over funding for education and changes to the layout of the busy A27. Work had in fact started earlier in the year, as these drone images showed, at what Adur District Council said was at the developer’s own risk.

Later in February, more drone images showed how the scheme was progressing, with workers and heavy machinery on site. But as the coronvirus pandemic led to the first lockdown, work at the site was halted just a few weeks later.

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In June, 2020, it was announced that work would resume, with a spokesman for Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club – the driving force behind the deveopment and whose training ground is nearby – saying they were ‘looking at ways we can resume works but strictly in accordance with government regulations’. Construction work on homes did restart and continued, with prices for the first homes confirmed in April, 2021.

And, as was the case when plans were first approved, reaction to the news from the community was mixed.