A former council headquarters has been sold to make way for almost 160 new homes.

Adur District Council will receive £6 million from the Hyde Group for the site at the junction between Brighton Road, Ham Road and Eastern Avenue in Shoreham, where the Adur Civic Centre stood.

The affordable housing provider will build 159 homes on the land to house 470 people.

Each of the new homes is set to be affordable, with more than 50 assigned for social rent to house Adur residents on the council’s housing list.

Income from the sale of the site cannot be used to fund the council’s day-to-day activity. The council will, instead, consider whether to use the money to reduce the cost of one or more of its ongoing projects for the community or to invest it to generate income to support frontline services.

Councillor Steve Neocleous, Adur’s cabinet member for regeneration and strategic planning, said: “We’re always reviewing our assets and investments to make sure that every pound we have is working as hard for our residents as possible.

“We will continue to focus our funding on the projects and work that will benefit the community the most.”

Adur District Council worked with Hyde and the community to develop the plans for the site to provide a large amount of affordable housing without damaging the character for the area.

This included listening to the concerns of residents that initial proposals for the site would have resulted in a large grey poplar tree having to be cut down.

Officers and members of the council’s cabinet organised meetings and worked with Hyde to come up with new proposals to build the same number of flats on a smaller section of land, saving the tree. A tree preservation order has also been served and confirmed, which gives greater protection for it.