Work will start on a new £13.5 million hospice early next year after costly highway snags were sorted at the 11th hour.

Worthing planners gave the go-ahead to St Barnabas House after a three-week delay in making a decision left the viability of the scheme "on a knife edge".

Councillors were forced to defer the application after West Sussex County Council highlighted concerns about safe vehicle access to the hospice and nearby Swallows Return pub from semi-rural Titnore Lane, a single-carriageway road with a 60mph speed limit.

Highways experts worked late into the evening prior to a crunch development control committee meeting in a bid to resolve the problems.

They finally agreed that Titnore Lane should be widened, resulting in the loss of some hedgerow.

Project manager Nigel Rippon said St Barnabas was under extreme financial pressure exacerbated by the credit crunch and rising building costs.

He said: "The hospice is really on a knife edge now in terms of making this development viable."

Councillors criticised West Sussex highways officials for delaying the scheme, saying it had cost St Barnabas money.

They said the delay would not have been necessary if Titnore Lane's speed limit had been reduced to 30mph or 40mph, a move the county council had previously blocked.

Coun John Livermore, committee chairman, said he was appalled by the hold up.