FINAL planning permission for Southampton's proposed £15m Sea City museum has been postponed tonight.

Councillors were set to give the final go-ahead for the controversial Titanic-inspired extension to the west wing of the Grade II listed building.

Now council leisure chiefs face a race against time to open an exhibition to mark the April 2012 centenary anniversary of the sinking of the liner in which 549 Sotonians lost their lives.

They must now wait at least another two weeks for a planning decision on whether a small spur road off Havelock Road will remain open to traffic before builders can start work.

The old magistrates’ courts and central police station will be transformed into two permanent exhibitions, entitled Southampton’s Titanic Story and Gateway to the World.