More than a decade of misery could be ending for residents whose lives have been blighted by boy racers.

Plans are being put together to introduce traffic calming near Splash Point in Worthing town centre.

Dozens of boy racers terrorise neighbours in the area almost every night of the week until 3am or 4am.

Worthing Borough Council is planning a calming scheme and has set aside £17,000 to pay towards it.

John Green has lived in the town centre for more than four years and said the problem was making life unbearable.

He said: "There could be 20 or 30 incidents every night where you can't hear the television because of the noise of the cars going past. It is quite common for groups of 50 or 60 youths to congregate in the town centre.

"Living in a town centre, we don't expect to hear the birds singing all the time but you also don't expect to hear cars going through a residential area at 70mph or 80mph. Traffic calming is the only long-term solution."

Another woman, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, said she had been threatened by the boy racers who kept ringing her doorbell and revving their engines outside her house.

Tory councillor Ann Barlow said: "We have had the police making sure they clear off, visiting every quarter of an hour at times but as a council we feel a long-term solution is necessary."

She said the borough council's £17,000 would become available in April, the start of the new financial year, and another £15,000 was being contributed by a private firm.

She said: "Normally it would be up to the county council to do traffic calming but they consider more than 700 schemes every year and can only fund two, so we are willing to provide part funding."

Councillor Tex Pemberton, in charge of West Sussex County Council's transport, met members of the Splash Point Action Group on Friday and was handed a petition calling for traffic calming.

He said before a scheme could be introduced, highways officers would have to consult people living in the town centre to see if they objected.

A police spokeswoman said: "This issue is raised at every briefingand patrols are routed through the town centre regularly.

"Any measure that would help combat the problem would be welcomed."