The board of a new NHS trust which will decide the fate of Brighton's Nigel Porter breast cancer unit has been named.

The Brighton and Hove City Primary Care Trust, which officially came into being on April 1, will take the decision on the unit's future.

Despite an outcry, the unit could be moved to the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, where health bosses say there is more room to expand.

The proposal to move the unit out of Brighton has met stiff opposition. More than 30,000 people signed a petition against the move.

The new board will hold its first public meeting at Hove Town Hall tomorrow but will not make a decision on the breast unit until two planning applications have been dealt with, which could be after June.

Health bosses are preparing to put outline planning applications in to Mid Sussex and Brighton and Hove councils simultaneously to see which plan is more likely to succeed.

The appointments of the chief executive, Gary Needle, and chairwoman, city councillor Jean Spray, were announced earlier. Coun Spray will receive £20,420 a year.

The new non-executive members of the board, who will each receive £5,295 a year, include:

Judith Corcho, a marketing consultant with an independent consultancy who is a former non-executive director of the East Sussex, Brighton and Hove Health Authority
John Dearlove, professor of politics at the University of Sussex and a former non-executive director of the East Sussex, Brighton and Hove Health Authority
Michael Evans, managing director of Brighton-based public relations consultancy The Priory Partnership
Barbara Myers, a broadcaster and journalist and a former non-executive director of Worthing and Southlands Hospitals NHS Trust.