Two councils are set to clash over a series of West Sussex road schemes which have been dropped from planning documents.

Several improvement schemes for the A259 in the Bognor and Littlehampton area proposed in 1998 have been left out of a new structure plan drawn up by West Sussex County Council.

Members of Arun District Council's ruling Cabinet are expected to demand they be put back in after a report which says the two seafront towns could suffer.

Among the schemes which have been dropped is the second phase of a plan to turn the A259 between Bognor and Chichester into a dual carriageway and improvements in the Worthing Road area of Littlehampton.

A report by Arun planning officers says: "The completion of a range of improvements to the A259 is considered essential given the importance of this road in forming the strategic road network for access to the coastal towns."

The structure plan, which will guide the way West Sussex develops up to 2016, also covers house building rates, with Arun set an average rate of 580 new homes a year which the report admits will mean the loss of some greenfield sites.

But council officers say that there is little point in objecting because overall housing figures for West Sussex have already been challenged with the Government and there is now little prospect of winning a reduction.

It will be another year before a final version of the structure plan is approved following a series of consultations, alterations and a public inquiry hearing due next summer.