Brighton seafront will be transformed under bold new £30 million plans for restoring the derelict West Pier.

More than £14 million is likely to be promised for restoring Britain's only Grade 1 listed pier by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

But to make the revived pier viable, a large shoreline development is also required by developers St Modwen, private sector partners of the Brighton West Pier Trust.

The building will stretch along the Lower Promenade to a point near the pier and from the west side of it to Al Fresco restaurant.

It will be built mainly of wood, glass and stainless steel and will house bars, restaurants and shops.

Details were revealed to the trust's board at a meeting in the Grand Hotel and to the trust members at their annual meeting.

English Heritage, which objected strongly to earlier plans by another private developer, has broadly welcomed the current proposals, which are essential if the pier is to be restored.

Restoring the structure to its Twenties heyday has already received planning permission from Brighton and Hove City Council.

Talks have been held with the council, which, as landowner, has already extended a development agreement for the site of the shoreline building.

But, as the planning authority, it will have to give permission for the development before the pier restoration can proceed.

The new development has been designed by architects KSS not to dominate either the pier or the surrounding conservation area.

No part of it will be higher than the existing pier or the top of Al Fresco.

Views of the pier will be almost clear from Regency Square and, from the pier itself, there will continue to be views of the main hotels and the Regency seafront.

There will be no single large development and it is unlikely that any letting area will be bigger than 5,000sq ft.

St Mowden chief executive Anthony Glossop said: "We think this will be an attractive development where people will want to be."

He said there should be no difficulty in finding takers for space on the pier itself although the exact uses still had to be finalised.

If all goes well, work could start both on the new building and the restoration next year, with completion at the end of 2003 or the start of 2004.

Nick Doyle, the director responsible for the pier project, said the scheme was being designed to fit the needs of the trust, the council, English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The pier would be restored to the time when it was at its best.

He said the shore development would be a vibrant scheme on two levels with connecting bridges to the pier and to the seafront at King's Road.

People would still be able to walk along the Lower Promenade and through the development at higher levels. There would be protection from bad weather.

St Modwen, which is already reviving Brighton Racecourse, is also redeveloping the old industrial estate at Woodingdean.

The pier, built between 1866 and 1916, has been disused since 1975.