An official inquiry has been launched into the collapse of £25 million plans to redevelop the King Alfred leisure centre in Hove.

Brighton and Hove councillors want to know why the scheme went off the rails.

Those involved with the deal have been asked to appear before a panel to answer questions about what went wrong.

Developer Citygrove wanted to build a commercial leisure complex, with a multiplex cinema and sports centre, on the ageing seafront site.

The cross-party scrutiny panel of Brighton and Hove City Council considered a written record of attempts to redevelop the King Alfred and a nearby car park.

It detailed Citygrove's relationship with Brighton and Hove since May 1996, when Hove Council was involved in negotiations.

Councillor John Warmington, chairman of the panel, said: "We will be looking into what lessons can be learnt from the way in which the scheme was initiated, the brief defined, the public consulted and the project procured."

Meetings are now planned with Hove MP and former council leader Ivor Caplin, Hove's former director of leisure David Fisher, and Brighton and Hove's ex-director of arts, recreation and tourism Deborah Grubb.

The first meetings will be held in private because discussions will involve commercially sensitive information. Public reports and meetings are expected later.

The council will ask people what they would like to see in any fresh proposals to redevelop the three-acre site.

It says the complex, built more than 60 years ago, is reaching the end of its useful life.

The Citygrove scheme collapsed because developers, after receiving planning permission, wanted to scale down the scheme in a way which the council found unacceptable.

Citygrove is complaining it was misled by the council but the authority said it could not contemplate any reduction in sport on the council-owned site.

A new planning brief is likely to insist on a modern sports centre but with a less intensive commercial development.

The current swimming pools were opened in 1982, when the old pools were converted into a dry sports centre for activities such as badminton and table tennis.

Other facilities presently include health and fitness centres. A bowling alley closed two years ago.