Work on a long-awaited bypass for Angmering is expected to start in the autumn.

The new road is part of a £7-million scheme which will see hundreds of new homes being built in the area at the same time.

Arun Council, West Sussex County Council and Angmering Parish Council have signed an agreement with a consortium of five developers planning to build 600 homes at Roundstone Lane.

The move means the proposed A280 Angmering bypass between the A259 and Water Lane will be built and paid for entirely by the private sector.

Money from the scheme will also be available for a community hall, education facilities, shops and other improvements.

Local campaigners have been fighting for years to get the bypass built to stop cars and lorries clogging village roads.

Last year, five-year-old Ben Cron died when he toppled from his bike into the path of a car travelling on Arundel Road.

Campaigner Angela Whitbread, of Arundel Road, said: "I am delighted that something is finally being done. There have been so many delays that we were beginning to think it would never be built."

But some residents are unhappy about the planned housing development that comes with the road and the extra traffic they say it will generate.

James Phillips, of Landsdowne Way, said: "There are going to be so many extra cars around that the new road will get clogged up and then drivers will start using Angmering roads as a short cut."

Arun Council identified 40 hectares of land west of Roundstone Lane for residential and commercial development in its 1998 draft local plan.

Gill Brown, chairman of Arun's planning committee, said: "Planners' hard work and determination, combined with the efforts of a community-led public and private sector partnership have ensured that the impact of this large but unfortunately necessary development, has been minimised as much as possible."