Moves to demolish a former town centre nightclub and replace it with flats and shops are expected to be thrown out tonight.

The plans for the controversial Carioca club in Worthing involve creating a five-storey building with a shop on the ground floor and 40 studio flats above it.

Worthing Borough Council planners say the scheme for the building in Eriswell Road is too large and ambitious for its town centre location but are in negotiations with owner Ben Hope to see if a compromise can be reached. The empty building hit the headlines last year when Mr Hope announced proposals to nearly double the club's capacity and add a restaurant to the site.

Residents in the Eriswell Road area launched a campaign to stop the expansion, saying their lives would be made a misery by the noise and disturbance caused by clubbers making their way home.

Mr Hope said at the time the club was in a perfect town centre location and he had received a lot of support from other residents and businesses.

He was given permission for the installation of the restaurant and the redevelopment of the club but not to double numbers.

Mr Hope then met residents to discuss his latest scheme to build flats and a shop on the site instead.

In a report to tonight's planning committee, Mr Hope said residents had backed the new proposals and were keen for work to begin.

Planning officers say that as no off-street car parking is proposed for the development it could cause major traffic problems in the area and underground parking should be provided.

A planning spokesman said: "We have no particular objection to the housing development in principle as we always welcome the provision of housing on brownfield sites.

"However, the impact of such a large-scale development in a small area on surrounding homes and streets needs to be assessed more, which is why we are recommending the plans be thrown out tonight.

"We are confident that by entering into discussions with the owner we should be able to reach a compromise that will suit all concerned and another application can be made."

Mr Hope was unavailable for comment.