Developers of Worthing's biggest superstore are bidding to put the car park on the roof to overcome a major planning hurdle.

Worthing planner James Appleton said Asda and Worthing College were considering hundreds of spaces above the superstore.

The council was holding talks with developers about the proposal for the £35 million project - which would also include building a new college -but which had not yet been formally submitted as a planning application.

Mr Appleton, the borough council's assistant director of planning control, said he wanted to know more about the revised height of the complex with parking on top.

Without the added parking, the height of the store was 11.5m, equivalent to a two-storey building.

Mr Appleton said the idea of roof parking had been floated because it would lead to a substantial reduction in the number of ground-level car spaces needed.

This would allow the college to maintain two sports pitches on the Bolsover Road site.

The college, which faces losing its three playing fields, plus netball and tennis courts to make way for the superstore, had been struggling to find an alternative location in the town for students' leisure facilities.

This was one of the reasons why Worthing councillors rejected the planning application last summer.

Sport England said it usually opposed the granting of planning permission for any development that would lead to the loss of playing fields.

However, it had not objected to the joint scheme by Asda and the college because the developers had pledged to provide replacement facilities.

Asda and the college have jointly appealed to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and there will be a public inquiry in the spring.

Meanwhile, the developers are seeking to shore up any weaknesses in their case.

The college, which caters for 1,200 full-time and 1,000 part-time students, said it needed to replace its outdated buildings.

It believed the only way to pay for them was by going in to partnership with Asda, which would construct a new college in exchange for land on which to build a store.

But the plans sparked uproar with thousands of residents protesting. Many feared traffic chaos and the ruin of small shops nearby if the superstore was built.

The superstore, which would be bigger than Tesco, West Durrington, Sainsbury's, Lyon's Farm, and the Co-op, Newland Road, would employ about 450 people.

Monday, December 5, 2005