Public services will get a £775,000 cash boost if hundreds of new homes are approved in Shoreham.

Transport, schools and a library would benefit from the scheme which would also provide low-cost housing.

The money would be put up by developers Wilson Connolly Southern as part of a deal to redevelop part of run-down Sussex Wharf at Harbour Way, Shoreham Beach.

It would include £360,000 for improving transport links between the site and the town centre.

It would help pay for a better bus service and the possible rebuilding of the footbridge across the harbour linking Shoreham Beach with the town centre.

A further £357,000 would be split between three schools - Shoreham Beach First, Buckingham Middle and Kings Manor Community College - to increase their capacities.

Another £50,000 would be made available for improvements at Shoreham library in Pond Road.

The project would result in 289 homes being built, of which 30 per cent would have to be "affordable" housing.

A doctor's surgery, pharmacy and shops would be provided and 17 new employment units would create dozens of new jobs.

A riverside promenade and open space would be created overlooking Shoreham harbour and the mouth of the River Adur.

If approved, the scheme would help Adur District Council meet Government requirements for more than 700 homes to be built in the area by 2006.

Adur planning officers recommended earlier this year the project should be rejected.

Their reasons included the quality of the layout of the homes, poor transport and the extra strain it would place on roads, schools and other public services.

However, councillors decided the objections could be overcome and asked the developers to re-think the plan.

A new application has been submitted that reduces the number of homes to be built, includes a doctors' surgery and provides money to improve services.

Officers are now recommending its approval at a planning committee meeting on Monday.

A report to the committee states: "Government policy is that better use must be made of underused brownfield land.

"The application site clearly falls into this category."