Part of Worthing that has been described as a dumping ground could soon be the location for a waste collection site.

The warning came in a new report on the future of the long-awaited East Worthing Access Road, designed to take heavy traffic away from residential roads already plagued by lorries.

Plans for the £4.7 million road, linking industrial estates to the A27 through farmland, have been discussed for years but no money has ever been tabled for the scheme.

There are now mounting fears that waste treatment facilities located in Halewick Lane, Sompting, may be moved to East Worthing.

Residents recently staged a demonstration against plans for a 24-hour vehicle workshop in Dale Road, opposite people's homes.

They feared noise, disturbance and more lorries round the clock but planners gave the scheme the go-ahead for one year.

Protesters said the area, which already includes a sewage works and a tip, was becoming a dumping ground.

Tony Clarke, Worthing Borough Council's director of planning and environmental services, said: "The history of the East Worthing Access Road is long and complicated and, since the early Nineties, has been entwined with deliberations about the replacement of the Sompting waste treatment facilities.

"Construction of the road should be relatively straightforward as all of the land required for its construction is owned by the same person, who has expressed a willingness to sell.

"The finance necessary to construct the road, calculated at £4.7 million, has, however, never been made available by West Sussex County Council."

Mr Clarke said two announcements expected in the next few months could further affect what happens with the road.

The Government is shortly to unveil its proposals for the Worthing-Lancing bypass while the county council is letting its waste handling contract.

Mr Clarke said: "The successful contractor will be responsible for replacing the Sompting facilities and may have a firm idea of where these should be located."

Worthing and Adur councillors are holding a meeting tomorrow to discuss a way forward Councillor Peter Green, Worthing's environment spokesman, said a new waste recycling plant at East Worthing could lead to the road being built.

He said: "An East Worthing Access Road would take a lot of traffic off Sompting Road and Dominion Road.

"If all industrial traffic could come directly, there should be no problem getting permission for a recycling plant.

"If people say they are happy to have a recycling plant there, it saves us both ways. It is a facility we would love to have on our doorstep.

"One of the principles of waste disposal is that waste should be dealt with as close as possible to where it is produced.

"If people are happy to say they would like a recycling centre, the road comes as part of the package."