A vision of Shoreham Harbour as an exciting place to live and work was launched three years ago. So is it any nearer becoming a reality?

Consultant Graham Moss drew up a strategy for the future of one of the biggest brownfield sites in England.

It included thousands of homes, a media village, leisure facilities, shops and light industry, as well as the regeneration of existing facilities such as the Lady Bee Marina at Southwick.

A £100 million tunnel under Hangleton and Portslade would provide a vital link between the A27 and the harbour.

A partnership was formed between local authorities and government agencies to make the original vision a reality.

They included Adur District Council, West Sussex County Council, Brighton and Hove City Council, Shoreham Port Authority, Sussex Enterprise and the South-East England Development Agency (Seeda).

Since then, little seems to have happened to convince people the project will not become a white elephant.

Key to the future of the project is access to the site and creating transport networks in the harbour.

Without new roads, only a fraction of the site can be redeveloped and developers will not want to invest in projects which are difficult to reach.

Ian Lowrie, chief executive of Adur District Council, said: "We are very close to signing an agreement to fund a study into the way in which transportation and access can be achieved.

"It will cost in excess of £50,000 and will look at things like the best way to provide access to the harbour.

"Whether that is a tunnel linking the harbour with the A27 or a road link will be one of the issues considered.

"It will also look at the transport systems to ensure the harbour is as accessible as possible.

"On the face of it there seems to be little happening there at the moment. It is easy to understand some may be frustrated by the apparent lack of progress.

"The building work cannot begin until all of that is completed. The fact the agencies are about to agree to fund the transport survey may not sound very exciting but it is a significant step."

Brian Tatterton, chief executive at the port authority, said: "It is the access to the port which is holding things up but there are schemes which will begin to get off the ground in 12 months.

"We will redevelop Lady Bee Marina to provide a mix of business and leisure facilities. The first thing you will see is new berths for the Customs boats which are moored by the power station at the moment.

"They need an accessible jetty so they can get in and out of the harbour easily.

"That will be followed by business units on the canal bank and dry boat storage facilities for yachtsmen at Lady Bee.

"We have a waiting list of businesses wanting to start up in the harbour."

Councillor Neil Parkin, leader of Tory-led Adur District Council, confirmed the port authority wanted to cut the number of non-executive members it appointed to its board.

Under the proposals, both Adur and Brighton and Hove City Council would lose their seats on the board.

As planning authorities involved in the regeneration project, both councils would see the loss of membership of the port authority's board as a backward step.

Coun Parkin said: "I am concerned Adur and Brighton and Hove could lose their seats on the board under the draft revision order drawn up by the port. Adur will definitely fight that move.

"There has not been a meeting of the authority's development sub-committee for more than a year.

"Its job is to look at the decisions which will have to be made about regeneration of the harbour as far as the port authority is concerned.

"We have been told there is nothing to be decided by the committee at the moment and the next meeting will be when there is something to discuss.

"The important thing to get sorted is the transport system and access to the harbour, whether that is a tunnel or a road link. Until that happens there will be no real progress.

"Without proper access, only a small proportion of the site can be redeveloped and that won't bring the developers in."

Mr Tatterton said: "The draft revision order is something we are required to submit to the Government as a port authority.

"It is part of a review which began in 1998, requiring trust ports to be more open and accountable in the way they conduct their business."

Southwick councillor Mike Willson plans to ask Adur's scrutiny board to look into the apparent lack of progress at Shoreham Harbour.

He said: "I am concerned at the lack of progress but I would not put the blame on the port authority.

"What concerns me is that we will end up with a watered down version of the original proposals."

Phil Dibsdale, a senior development manager with Seeda, said: "Transport and access is the big issue. That is what we are addressing.

"We are looking at putting the feasibility study out to tender in the next few months. Once a consultant has been appointed, we expect the study to take about nine months."

"Then it will be a matter of putting it out to public consultation and going through the normal planning processes."