Tropical palm trees are rising up over Worthing's skyline as it fights to combat its dowdy image after years of decline.

Eighteen 13ft-high cordylines, imported from Pistoria in Italy at a cost of £350 each, have been planted between Splash Point and Western Place, Worthing.

Town leaders hope the first stage of the facelift will help the town recapture the glory years of the early 20th Century, when it was known as the Madeira of England, due to its warm weather and spectacular floral displays.

While the planting was going on, a crane lifted a new Edwardian-style roof on to a beach shelter just west of the Lido entertainments complex.

The cordylines arrived from Manor Nurseries in Angmering and are expected to grow to 20ft in the next decade.

Leading seafront campaigner Councillor Tim Dice watched with Mayor-elect John Livermore as the operation unfolded.

So far, Worthing Borough Council has spent £137,000 on improvements, with a further £100,000 earmarked for the seafront in 2003.

Coun Dice said: "This is the culmination of a year's hard work but it is only the start as we want to continue the improvements during the next five years."

At the annual meeting of Worthing Hospitality Association in the Berkeley Hotel, hoteliers and guest house owners heard how tourism was worth £65 million a year to the town.

A total of 200,000 visitors stayed in 2000, including 38,000 from overseas, while a million made day trips.

Guest speaker Joss Croft, of the British Tourist Authority, said resorts were suffering from lack of investment and vision in the past 30 years.

But Tim Preston, the council's economic development manager, said Worthing now had that vision and was forging ahead with improvements.

The cordylines will be complemented by exotic palms in containers.

Huddles of people watched as the grey beach shelter roof, made of glass reinforced plastic, was lifted on to its mounting.

Ornate metal scrollwork will be fitted as a finishing touch. The roof was made by Glasden, a firm based at Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire.

During the next few years, other shelters will also receive new roofs.

Maritime signal flags spelling out W.O.R.T.H.I.N.G. will soon fly from eight newly installed flagpoles on the pier, which will be further enhanced by bunting in patriotic colours to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee.