Two prime seafront sites may be sold off to help pay for new leisure centres.

Worthing Borough Council wants to build a modern swimming pool and refurbish the town's main sports complex but does not have the cash to do it.

Now councillors are being urged to offload the Grafton site near the town centre and an area of land at the junction of Sea Place and Eirene Road, Goring, to raise funds.

The council has already sold Hill Barn Golf Course to a private operator for £2 million which has been reserved for future leisure development.

It is also in the process of selling off golfing facilities at Brooklands, off Brighton Road, East Worthing.

But the council may still have to team up with a commercial operator if it cannot generate enough funds for the multi-million pound vision.

Previous plans to redevelop Sea Place/Eirene Road, behind Worthing Yacht Club, as a windsurfing centre were dropped after a concerted protest campaign by residents.

But the area, which covers 2.4 acres just yards from the beach, is now fenced off and overgrown.

Many believe it would make an excellent watersports centre, catering for kite-surfers, jet-skiers and windsurfers.

The Grafton site comprises a small grassed area opposite the Lido and raised decking in front of the multi-storey car park, which is regarded as an eyesore.

Now the executive is being asked to spend £20,000 so consultants can be employed to draw up development briefs for both plots.

With money from the sale of the sites, the troubled 36-year-old Aquarena swimming complex in Brighton Road would be demolished and replaced.

The ailing leisure centre off Shaftesbury Avenue, which has a rapidly deteriorating flat roof, would be totally refurbished.

John Thorpe, the borough's assistant director of leisure and cultural services, said more consultants would be needed to draw up a design brief for a new swimming pool and leisure centre.

But no deadline been set for the completion of both schemes.