There has been great interest from developers to transform a seafront car park into housing, a council has said.

Worthing Borough Council said it has already had contact from national companies eager to be involved in the redevelopment of the Grafton multi-storey car park in the town’s Marine Parade.

The council decided to sell the car park and neighbouring shops to a developer to transform the area with at least 150 new homes, as well as enhanced leisure facilities, commercial units and green spaces last year.

Land on offer includes the car park, the bowling alley, the Level 1 food and drink area, a small number of shops in Montague Street and access roads to neighbouring buildings, covering roughly the area of a football pitch.

The council said a new town centre car park next to the Worthing Integrated Care Centre and the completed refurbishment of the Buckingham Road multi-storey would mean there are enough spaces to allow Worthing's Grafton car park to be closed.

During a council meeting last year, Councillor Caroline Baxter, Worthing’s cabinet member for regeneration, told the council’s joint strategic sub-committee that every car park across the town was well below capacity for traffic.

She said while demand rises and falls at different times of the week and year, on average well under half of the Grafton’s 440 places are occupied at any one time.

She added that the seafront multi-storey is more than 50 years old and would require “significant and increasing” investment to keep it in a safe condition for visitors over the coming years.

A council spokesman said: “We’ve had a great reaction so far from developers interested in working with us to transform the Grafton multi-storey car park site.

“A string of national companies have contacted us to register their interest in being involved in the redevelopment of the seafront area.

“We’re looking for someone who shares our vision of high-quality, highly sustainable homes, attractive green areas and leisure attractions, bringing benefits for all of our citizens.”

Companies who want to get involved with the project have until the end of May to register their interest and can contact marketing agent CBRE for more details by emailing james.parker1@cbre.com.

The council spokesman added: “We will continue to meet with our citizens and stakeholders likely to be affected to ensure their voices are heard and they are kept informed throughout the project."