The Beatles were top of the pops. The Vietnam war was raging. Harold Wilson was the beleaguered Labour Prime Minister.

And I was at Hove Museum, temporary and highly appropriate home of the borough council, reporting on a momentous decision it had made in secret.

Back in 1969, councillors agreed to buy the Royal Naval Reserve site, west of the King Alfred Leisure Centre, so a new complex could be added to the pre-war building, making Hove the sports capital of the south. Private enterprise was asked to help.

Here we are, 31 years later, and the latest scheme for Hove seafront, this time covering almost the whole King Alfred site, has collapsed amid the usual mixture of euphoria, recriminations and dismay.

The building is even more antiquated and the RNR site is set to be an open-air car park for many more years.

It's hard to get a large and complicated town centre site developed. Look at the land next to Brighton Station, derelict for a few years longer even than the RNR site.

Even now there is no current planning application and local knives are out for the likely developers.

There's also Jubilee Street, derelict for at least half a century, where this week there was another delay in choosing the consortium interested in the site.

But the King Alfred should be simpler than these. It occupies a prime seafront site and ought to become the hub of Hove for sport and entertainment.

The Citygrove scheme, which has just collapsed, aimed to provide an 11-screen cinema, sports hall, restaurants, bars and a casino.

It was changed several times to meet public opinion and commercial demand but in the end there was one change too many for the council.

This scheme, like others before it, attracted vehement and sometimes vituperative opposition from those in the neighbourhood.

But many people in other parts of Hove whom I have spoken to were sad that it failed.

Now it has gone, there are many improvements that could be made in any future scheme.

I'm not sure we really need 11 cinemas there, although a smaller complex could be attractive and the casino operator has already said it is not interested.

There is the question whether the sports hall could be on this site or at Blatchington Mill School.

If it heads north, the seafront site could be a Center Parcs-style water wonderland attached to the present pools and suiting today's sophisticated swimmers.

Either way, this will need some financial input. Even if National Lottery cash were available, a sports complex could not exist without either extensive subsidy or high charges.

That would probably mean bars or cafes that could be a real attraction.

The design should be made exciting and innovative. Most schemes have been for box-like structures that would have done little to enhance the area.

It should be possible to build sweeping curves to delight the eye and with a feeling of space.

My fear is that many neighbours would rather see a small-scale scheme on this site that wouldn't be viable, or nothing at all.

Some things don't change. We still have the Beatles topping the pops, and a beleaguered Labour Premier.

The Americans have just left Vietnam, this time in the form of President Clinton. And the RNR site remains empty.