Worthing Borough Council wants to convert the “dormant” site at Decoy Farm in Willowbrook Road into a seven-hectare business park.

Last year the council asked for comments from businesses and the community on its intention to redevelop the site for use as commercial, industrial, storage or distribution units.

The council said there was “widespread support” for the need for more commercial units in the borough.

Detailed plans have now been submitted for 18 modern units on the land between existing units in Dominion Way and Worthing’s household waste and recycling centre.

The units would be designed to require low levels of energy to heat and light them, using the maximum amount of daylight and minimum level of artificial light possible.

Solar panels would be fitted, the site’s bin and cycle stores would have eco-friendly green roofs that would improve air quality by absorbing pollutants.

The council believes the new industrial estate could create more than 350 jobs on the site, in addition to those involved in its construction.

Councillor Martin McCabe, Worthing’s cabinet member for regeneration, said the development would give the town a big financial boost.

“Decoy Farm has the potential to create hundreds of jobs for our community on a site that has sat dormant for too long,” he said.

“Developing the land can boost our economy, by helping our smaller businesses to grow and attracting other companies to move to the area.

“A huge amount of work has been done to get us to this point, and I hope the modern, environmentally-friendly units proposed will draw green technology businesses, in particular, to invest in our town.”

Decoy Farm was used as a landfill site between 1970 and 1979.