A £1 million masterplan to improve Worthing High Street has been put on hold.

The long-awaited scheme would see a bus lane and cycle lane installed and improvements made to the junctions with Lyndhurst Road and Union Place.

But the borough council has admitted it is concerned about how much money it will have available to fund the scheme.

Some will come from the sale of property in Colonnade House and Ann Street, but the council will also lose about £50,000 a year from the surface car park in the High Street.

Plans for the improvement, including widening the High Street to a dual carriageway, were approved by the county council in 1982.

The new plans would involve using the green area in front of Colonnade House and demolishing buildings on the south-west corner of High Street near Colonnade House.

The council also wants to ensure its work ties in with further road improvements to be made when Safeway develops its site for which it has outline planning permission.

The supermarket must also reach an agreement with British Gas on when a gas holder can be decomissioned and the potentially contaminated land underneath it be treated.

The police station is also moving from Union Place and the council wants to see what impact any new development has on the area.

At their meeting on Thursday, councillors agreed to tell West Sussex County Council it would be premature to commit to any new scheme to improve the High Street until it knew exactly what would happen to the surrounding site.

Council policy and resources chief Steven Waight said: "It's such a complex scheme that we needed more detail on some of the points raised. It involves a lot of changes and we need more information."