About Southbourne

The Parish of Southbourne is located in the south west corner of the English county of West Sussex. Bordering Hampshire in the west it encompasses Hermitage and Lumley with Prinsted and Southbourne at its centre and Nutbourne to the East. It stretches from the reaches of the beautiful Chichester Harbour in the south to the A27 in the north. It is bisected by the A259, known locally as Main Road (the original A27) and also by the railway where it has its own station.

At the centre of the Parish is the church of St. John the Evangelist. Close by are several shops, doctors surgery a pharmacy and post office. North of the A259, in First Avenue, are the Library and Village Hall. Bourne Community College is the local comprehensive school and Southbourne Infant and Junior School are the local primary schools.

Southbourne has good public transport facilities. The Portsmouth to Brighton railway line has a local station at both Southbourne and Nutbourne. Services also run regularly to Havant, where connections are available to Guildford and London Waterloo. Services to the east run through the ancient city of Chichester (connecting to London Victoria) and the holiday towns of Bognor Regis and Worthing before reaching Brighton.

Bus services include the Stagecoach Company’s No.700 that runs along the A259 Main Road linking the south coast towns from Brighton through Southbourne to Portsmouth; as well as the local bus service run by the Emsworth and District Motor Company, which serves local villages. There is also a volunteer led Community Free Bus- Bourne Community Bus which is available to residents.

The Parish Council provides a recreation ground in Park Road with a football pitch, pavilion and a children’s playground.

Whilst there are some small industrial type businesses, the area is predominantly residential and agricultural.

The Chichester Harbour is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) that is run by the Chichester Harbour Conservancy. It also has the highest level of international protection under the Ramsar Convention because it has over 55,000 birds either resident or passing through the Harbour each year. It is popular with walkers, bird watchers and watersports enthusiasts and there are two marinas in the parish.