A multi-million pound revamp of Worthing has moved a vital step closer after developers unveiled plans for a prime seafront site.

Builders want to construct 107 flats, ten houses and a health centre, all served by 200 car spaces, on land at the junction of Sea Place and Eirene Road, Goring.

The £20 million scheme, submitted by Bellwinch Homes Ltd, includes the relocation of the yacht club to the west of its present site, where the boat compound is currently situated.

Roger Page, managing director of Bellwinch, said: "With a fair wind we would certainly like to make a start later this year or in the early part of next year."

Within the next fortnight, Worthing Borough Council is also expecting a planning application for the £100 million redevelopment of Teville Gate, near the main railway station.

The proposals include two high-rise glass-fronted apartment blocks, a swimming pool, multi-screen cinema, tenpin bowling alley, shops and restaurants.

James Appleton, the council's assistant director of planning, said the developers of Sea Place/Eirene Road were looking to construct a modern and innovative scheme which reflected seaside architecture.

Talks on the detailed design were taking place but the initial layout showed a development in the shape of two ships' bows pointing out to sea, wrapped around an internal courtyard.

Mr Appleton said: "It will be interesting to see what the local reaction is to that."

The flats would be in two, three and four-storey blocks on a vacant site formerly occupied by a windsurfing centre based in a long wooden hut which was knocked down more than five years ago.

The health centre, possibly replacing a surgery in Sea Lane, would cover 570sq metres and have a small number of specially designated parking spaces.

Money from Bellwinch might be used to fund a children's playground on Goring greensward, an idea which has split the community.

Mr Appleton said an application for Teville Gate was expected within a fortnight.

A masterplan for the future development of Worthing is expected to be published in June.

The council has already unveiled plans to knock down the Grafton multistorey car park, regarded as the biggest eyesore on the seafront, opposite the Lido, and turn it into a shops and flats complex.

Meanwhile, the £2.2 million restoration of the Edwardian Dome cinema is expected to be finished in August.

And workmen are putting the finishing touches to 72 luxury flats which are being constructed on the former site of the Warnes Hotel, near Splash Point.

Thursday, May 4, 2006