A decision to split a controversial seafront development across more than one site has prompted a list of suggestions for the scheme's housing.

Brighton and Hove city councillors have given their backing to architect Frank Gehry's plans for a £290 million homes and leisure complex at the King Alfred site in Hove - subject to developers building some of the planned homes elsewhere in the city.

It has left planning officers scouring the city for suitable sites for housing since the decision was made on Thursday night.

Brighton and Hove City Council is expecting an official planning application from the famous architect and developers Karis next week.

But officers must now look for an alternative site for new homes after a last-minute amendment brought the future of the 751 homes planned for the site into question.

Preston Barracks, off Lewes Road in Brighton; Portland Road in Hove, Hove railway station; and Shoreham Harbour are all being mooted as possible alternatives.

Simon Burgess, council leader, said: "Those are all sites where there is potential for future housing but nobody has yet talked about possible sites that would be linked to the King Alfred."

Mr Gehry's vision to transform the Hove seafront site has won the backing of councillors, as landowners, but only after a last-minute compromise.

Keith Taylor, leader of the Green Party group, put forward an amendment which read: "The council is committed to working with the developer, for them to provide a meaningful proportion of the scheme in another location in order to enable it while reducing the overall impact."

Conservative councillors said the agreement was "not worth the paper it was written on" and are considering asking the Government to call in the decision. They have until Thursday to decide whether they have enough legal ammunition to go ahead with the move.

Councillor Mary Mears said: "The amendment is just a scribbled piece of paper which doesn't mean anything. They could tear it up and throw it in the waste bin - there's nothing binding about it."

But officers have been asked to draw up possible list of alternative sites for the housing, which so far includes 276 affordable homes.

Preston Barracks is seen as the front-runner after plans for a multi-million pound development at the site stalled last month.

Warehouse store B&Q, one of the key partners, was to buy land to extend its current operation, but withdrew.

The council had feared that without the store's financial input the scheme's ambitious scope would have to be downgraded.

Valerie Paynter, of Save Hove, said: "Now that B&Q have pulled out Preston Barracks could be the obvious choice. It will require rejigging the project and I'm not sure how easy that will be but it's not moving forward at the moment.

"You've then got the art deco cinema in Portland Road with its huge car park, but for that street to work commercially it needs a focus. It needs to be a leisure complex in my view."

The area around Hove railway station, between Clarendon Road and Old Shoreham Road, has long been regarded as a potential site for housing.

It was recently named in a "greenprint" list of sites for sustainable redevelopments, which also included Portland Road.

Other people pointed out that Shoreham Harbour, with no present plans to develop, is the biggest brownfield site outside of London.