Completion of the £70million scheme would mean closing the West Durrington site, leaving Broadwater Road and the Shoreham Airport unit as the college's two remaining facilities in this area.

The new college complex could be up and running by 2011-2012, subject to the borough council development control committee agreeing to a recommendation to give conditional approval to the new college, despite 68 letters of objection.

Click here to see a break down of the plans, with PDF documents of the design and reports submitted to council planners.

Critics say the six-storey "tower" block element would be an "eyesore", and the new college's design would not be in keeping with the area.

People in the tower would be able to look directly into the windows of homes in Queen Street and Carnegie Road, and traffic and parking issues are also strong areas of objection.

But support has come from two local residents' associations, and college principal David Percival told the Herald: "I think it is a significant statement about the importance of learning in Worthing, and about the importance of Worthing as a centre for learning itself.

"Worthing has been suffering in terms of education facilities in comparison with Brighton and Chichester, and when this is built, and Worthing College's building is completed, there is absolutely no reason why Worthing should not hold its head high in comparison with anywhere."

The college is designed to accommodate a total of 10,000 full and part-time students, within their respective study periods, and security is one of the planning issues.

Hi-tech security

Sussex Police describes the location as a "medium/high crime risk area", and its crime prevention officer suggests hi-tech measures to access the learning zones.

Sussex Police describes the location as a "medium/high crime risk area", and its crime prevention officer suggests hi-tech measures to access the learning zones.

The officer says: "If there is a need to keep an accurate, reliable audit trail, then biometrics should be considered.

"This access control system identifies the person by fingerprints, iris movement, etc., rather than the swipe-card."

Responding to this, Mr Percival said a swipe-card system was originally envisaged, but new ideas could also be considered.

Mr Percival said the Learning and Skills Council would make a 60/70 per cent contribution towards the cost of the new college, with the remainder coming from the sale of Northbrook's sites at Horsham, Union Place and West Durrington.

The former Union Place campus had already been sold, along with the Horsham site in 2006.

The West Durrington site would still have to be sold.

Community centre

Broadwater Community Association has raised £120,000 towards building a community centre, and land has been reserved for this to the west of the new college's main entrance.

South Broadwater Residents' Association said it "broadly welcomed" the development, but was concerned about the building line, which appeared to be too close to the pavement.

Have your say?

Do you think fingerprint and iris movement tests would be a good security idea for users of the proposed Northbrook College building?

Vote yes or no in the voting panel to the right of this screen.

What do you think?

Is the proposed development an eyesore?

How will Worthing benefit from new college facilities?

Let us know, comment in the space below.

Email: letters@worthingtoday.co.uk

Write to: Worthing Herald, Cannon House, Chatsworth Road, Worthing, BN11 1NA.

Contact us online: www.worthingherald.co.uk/contactus.aspx

Comment

I think the Northbrook proposal is good.
Why do people moan about bringing Worthing up to date?
It's not an eyesore and its got to be good for education in the town etc.
I'm all for Teville Gate, Worthing College and these proposed ideas.
– Rob Brown