A 24-storey block of flats may be built on the site of a recently demolished eyesore shopping precinct.

Developers are proposing a tiered luxury complex, containing almost 200 apartments, on Teville Gate, which forms the gateway to Worthing town centre.

The flats on the upper floors would have outstanding views of the sea and the Downs.

Like their counterparts in Brighton and Hove, Worthing Borough councillors are rapidly running out of building land and believe high- rise living might be the answer to the town's housing problems.

Brighton and Hove has been presented with several proposals for high-rise developments.

These include a block of flats up to 12-storeys tall on the site of the former Caffyns garage in Kingsway, Hove; a 42-storey, 403ft tower containing a sky garden caf, luxury hotel and 100 new homes at the New England Quarter development near Brighton station; a 40-storey, 420ft tower with a range of luxury apartments at Brighton Marina; and Frank Gehry's leisure centre and housing complex on the site of the King Alfred Centre in Hove, which features two 18-storey blocks and up to eight blocks of ten storeys.

The proposed complex at Teville Gate is not expected to be as flamboyant as its Brighton counterparts but is likely to be among the tallest in the town.

However, Mike Bleakley, assistant director of policy development, said the tall buildings would need a radical "wow" factor to put Worthing on the map.

He said: "We are rapidly running out of land and have a demanding housing target to meet. Unless we find more radical solutions we are going to see more countryside lost or more Victorian villas disappear."

But at 24 storeys, the Teville Gate proposals were six storeys higher than the 18-storey ceiling previously envisaged.

As part of the Teville Gate scheme, a new 25m swimming pool, with a multi-screen cinema above it, might be constructed on the site of Steeles garage, Teville Road.

The council is expecting a planning application from developers Hanson by November and, if approved, work could start by the early summer of 2006.

The site would also have a bowling alley, possibly a casino, and a tree-lined shopping mall leading pedestrians from an underground car park towards the main railway station.

Teville Gate, built in the early Seventies, became a haven for drug dealers, muggers, arsonists and vandals after many shops fell empty.

It was demolished earlier this year. A question mark still hangs over the location of the new swimming pool, with some council officers believing the best site is West Park, Durrington, next to the Shaftesbury Avenue sports centre.

Their case has been strengthened by reports private leisure companies were interested in building facilities at Teville Gate.

This would leave no room for a new Aquarena there, forcing the council to look elsewhere.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005