Otters have been found using waterways in West Sussex and more than 100 towns and cities nationwide, for the first time in nearly three decades, wildlife campaigners said today.

The Wildlife Trusts' experts said while the number of otters had been rising in some areas of the country otters had only been recorded, until recently, on city margins or within a 10 or 20 mile radius of major urban areas.

The recent survey by The trusts' Water for Wildlife project, now identifies otters as regular users of major town and city waterways, including those in Arundel.

Among the 100 towns and cities where otters are found are Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Carlisle, Leeds, Doncaster, Norwich, Bristol, Canterbury and Cardiff.

Thirteen urban areas, including Newcastle, have resident otters, which live and breed in the urban water courses.

The Wildlife Trusts said movement of otters into urban areas generally reflects improvements in water quality, increases in available food and otter numbers rising and the animals extending their travelling range in some areas of the UK.

Dr Simon Lyster, director general of The Wildlife Trusts, said: "The recovery of the otter is the most exciting success story of the last decade and is a tribute to volunteers and professionals who have worked so hard to make this recovery possible.

"Watching otters at play has largely been restricted to remote areas of the countryside, but now otters seem set to become a part of urban wildlife too.

"Important wildlife habitat can exist in urban areas and people are now more likely than ever to be able to catch a glimpse of one of the UK's most charismatic creatures."

But riverside road deaths are a factor in the recovery of this animal in urban areas.

Most riverside building work and development does not make any allowance for the possible presence of otters.

The Wildlife Trusts is calling for local planning authorities, developers and builders to consider the needs of otters when developing along urban waterways.

They need suitable breeding habitat and resting sites, normally sheltered vegetation and gently sloping riverbanks.

A number of mitigation features could be looked at including ledges within the bridge arch for otters to travel across, a stationary or floating resting platform, underpasses combined with otter fencing alongside road edges and a drop weir scheme where boulders or steps guide the otter down weirs.

Brian Lavelle, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's Water for Wildlife Officer, said: "While this appears to be good news there is no room for complacency, otters still suffer from a lack of good riverbank habitat due to building development, pollution and death through road accident."