The chairman of Lewes Football Club has called on councillors to stop fighting Albion's stadium plans with taxpayers' money.

Lewes district councillors will consider today whether to allocate an extra £35,000 for specialist advisers at the ongoing public inquiry into plans for a 22,000-seat community stadium near Falmer station.

Terry Parris said the council would be wrong to do so and pledged to join a pro-stadium march outside the Labour Party conference in Brighton on September 27.

Mr Parris said: "The district council doesn't seem to be in line with public opinion. They should stop spending money on the inquiry because it could be better spent elsewhere for the benefit of the local community.

"It's annoying because there doesn't seem to be much money available from the council for sport in the community.

"The whole planning process is taking too long. There's a small minority who can't understand the benefits.

"A couple of years ago, we were drawn against Stoke in the FA Cup but had to switch the tie to Stoke because our ground wasn't big enough.

"It would be great to play that sort of game at Falmer in front of 5,000 or 10,000 people. It would be a good move to have the stadium close to Lewes and the Sussex Senior Cup Final could be held there too.

While Brighton and Hove City Council is strongly backing Albion's vision after a city-wide referendum showed 68 per cent support, Lewes District Council has spent tens of thousands of pounds opposing the plans.

A pro-stadium petition has been collected with more than 61,000 signatures, including 4,958 from people in Lewes district.

District council leader Ann De Vecchi insisted the authority would keep on fighting the Falmer plans.

She said: "Like everyone else, we didn't anticipate the inquiry would continue but we will certainly carry on to the next stage. The extra amount being allocated now is pretty modest."