Police and council bosses are trying to stop homeless people from sleeping under Worthing Pier.

A group of about ten rough-sleepers have set up camp among the support beams on the west side of the structure in Marine Parade.

Worthing Borough Council and Sussex Police are trying to determine whether they have any powers to prevent people sleeping at the site.

But homelessness workers say the shortage of night shelters and temporary accommodation in the town is leaving the group with nowhere else to go.

Some members of the group have been arrested for alleged drunken behaviour and public disorder offences over the past few days.

And last night at about 7pm fire crews had to be called to the Pavilion's Denton suite when smoke from a bonfire below began to rise through the floor.

A pile of old carpets and blankets was the only evidence of the pier's new tenants this morning.

Inspector Allan Lowe said a proposed public drinking law for the town was needed as soon as possible to give police more power to act.

He said: "During the last couple of days, the community beat officer has made arrests for public order offences.

"To resolve this long-term problem, we are working with environmental services and Worthing Churches Homeless Project to try to move these people away from the area.

"We do not have any powers to move them on unless they are committing crimes, like breach of the peace.

"We are looking closely at the options available to us. Our concerns include the environmental health issues, because of the conditions they are living in, and the difficulties they are causing.

"We would like to help them through support agencies, otherwise it will just go on and on, but we will not tolerate public disorder."

Mr Lowe said police would keep checking the site until they had a chance to talk with the group.

John Thorpe, assistant director of community services at Worthing Council, said: "There are limited methods that the council can use to deal with people sleeping there. We have to examine what laws, if any, are being broken."

Tony Chasteauneuf, general manager of Worthing Churches Homeless Project, said: "The people under the pier are eligible for support and are current receiving support from us. Some of them are not new to the town, they are local."

Mr Chasteauneuf said there was a desperate shortage of emergency accommodation available.

He said: "From April to June this year, we turned away 140 people, on average three times each. We wanted to accommodate them but we could not. We were always full."

Talking about moving the group on from the beach, he said: "If there are concerns about safety, we would not encourage anyone to put themselves at risk.

"It's worth bearing in mind people living on the street, or in this case on the beach, run a very high risk of being assaulted themselves."