The company running Brighton and Hove's buses has declared an interest in managing a £10 million seafront monorail.

The Brighton Bullet would be the UK's first city monorail and would run between Brighton Marina and the Palace Pier.

The idea of a seafront monorail has been mooted for a number of years but the support of the Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company would bolster the credibility of the project.

Businessman David Courtney, who founded the city's Walk of Fame, has been working for four years to gain financial backing for the monorail.

He said the system could be built in 12 months once planning permission had been approved.

Roger French, managing director of Brighton and Hove Buses, said: "David Courtney asked us if we would be interested in running the monorail and we are obviously always interested in anything to do with public transport.

"But it is too early to say at the moment. We would want to know a lot more details before we went ahead with anything.

"We don't know whether it is going to become part of the public transport infrastructure or whether it will be more like a tourist ride from the Palace Pier to the marina."

April 15, 2005