Elderly residents of a traffic-plagued village have attacked plans to build hundreds of new homes because they do not include provision for a new school.

Plans to build 600 new homes on semi-derelict land in Angmering have been given the go-ahead to help pay for an urgent road scheme.

Preliminary work on the new £5 million Angmering bypass, near Worthing, has already begun, with the busy A259 Roundstone roundabout being upgraded to take more cars and lorries.

Contractors have also staked out the path of the bypass that will run through countryside to the east of the village and link the A259 with the A27.

But the plan has dismayed many residents, who fear traffic in the village will increase as families move into the area.

Residents' anger has been compounded after West Sussex County Council rejected plans for a new school. Instead, the two existing schools in Arundel Road could be expanded.

Ron Malam, chairman of St Margaret's Court Residents' Association, Arundel Road, said: "I am speaking on behalf of 43 residents who have to cross the road daily as there is no continuous pavement on our side.

"We have asked the council for a pedestrian crossing, road calming or sings warning that elderly people are crossing but all have been turned down on grounds of cost.

"This road has a 30mph limit, two schools, a club, a church, a library and 35 retirement homes.

"Heavy lorries thunder by and cars speed at well over 40mph. I have witnessed two accidents, one fatal.

"It is a gross miscalculation not to build a new school on the new 600-house estate as in 2003, they will be talking about another 600 homes.

"Parking is already a problem and we need another car park. They should also erect signs on each road coming into the village, forbidding all traffic except for access."

West Sussex County Council expects the bypass to be completed by September, 2002.

Angmering Parish Council had asked for a crossing in Arundel Road but it was not a priority for the county council.

However, once the bypass was finished, a study of traffic in the village would be carried out, a county council spokesman said.