The man behind a £150-million plan to build a superstore, hotels and homes in the heart of Brighton has quashed rumours the scheme is being dropped.

Chris Gilbert, project manager for the New England Consortium, warned a meeting of business leaders last week that investors backing the project would not "stick with us forever".

But yesterday he insisted the consortium had no intention of pulling out of the scheme at the old Brighton station goods yard site.

He said: "Rumours we are thinking of pulling out are quite wrong.

"We remain totally committed to making the scheme work and have every intention of seeing it through to completion."

In April, the consortium asked for consideration of the scheme to be deferred by city councillors so it could look again at some details.

Mr Gilbert said: "We continue to have very constructive planning discussions with the council andlook forward to presenting our revised scheme in a few weeks'

time.

"This will be good news for those who deplore the continuing decline of this part of the city and who welcome the chance to halt it.

"It will be bad news for those who seem determined to ensure the site remains in its disgraceful condition year after year, no matter what is proposed for it."

The consortium had worked for more than two years on a design that was commercially viable and made the best use of the site for the benefit of the city as a whole.

It would bring business, shopping and tourists to the area, enhancing community life, creating hundreds of homes and 1,000 new jobs, while ridding the city of an environmental eyesore.

But critics say the proposed Sainsbury's store and its 200-space car park, the anchor for the rest of the project, is unnecessary and would add to traffic congestion.

Mr Gilbert said: "We know there is no way any scheme proposed for the site will meet with universal approval. We accept that.

"At the same time, we believe our plans for a mixed-use urban quarter represents the best chance yet of getting on with a longoverdue renewal of the site.

"We have the ideas, resources, expertise, enthusiasm and vision to make this regeneration of the area a reality."