A multi-million pound deal for a new school and leisure complex has been signed four months after it looked like being called off.

The package means one of the sites used by Chichester High School for Girls will be flattened to make way for a multiplex cinema, bowling alley, restaurants, hotel and fitness club.

West Sussex County Council will use the £6.5 million it raises from the sale to build a single new school for 1,500 pupils on a second site a few hundred yards away.

The deal for the 27-acre site in Stockbridge Road was signed by Councillor Colin Waller with London-based developer Woodbridge Edenside.

He said: "The new school, cinema and other leisure facilities will be a tremendous asset for the residents of Chichester and the surrounding area."

Late last year the scheme came close to being scrapped when the developers asked to re-negotiate the price because of a slump in the leisure market.

But the two sides kept talking and now the new school and leisure park are due to be completed by September 2003.

Chairman of the school governors Kate Mosse said: "I can only express delight that after so many years and so much hard work the school will at last be together on one site."