Pressure was building today for two long-closed Mid Sussex hospital wards to be reopened in response to a beds crisis.

Councillors threw out plans to convert the old Kleinwort and Nightingale wards at the former Haywards Heath Hospital into offices for Mid Sussex Primary Health Care Trust.

The office plan had come under fire from the Haywards Heath Society, which wanted to see the wards reopened because of a shortage of beds at the town's Princess Royal Hospital.

The proposal was rejected by six votes to five by Mid Sussex District Council's central planning committee.

The plan was to convert the wards to offices for two to three years while nearby Ellis House was rebuilt as a permanent headquarters.

Planning committee member Councillor Mike Gilks said today: "Everyone, whatever their view on the planning matter, is of the view there is a desperate need for hospital wards.

"They now need to get the facilities open so the hospital can be used for what hospitals are best at and elderly people who don't need hospital care have somewhere to go where they are taken care of."

The wards shut down eight years ago. Coun Gilks said: "Ever since the hospital closed, people have wanted the facilities used.

"Those wards have stayed empty and it is an opportunity to use a facility to alleviate a problem."

Haywards Heath Society secretary Richard Moon said: "The sooner they are used for some sensible medical purpose the better, particularly when you read about there being no half-way house for people who need intermediate care."

Fifty-two of the 249 general and acute beds at the Princess Royal Hospital are being taken up by people who could leave hospital but have nowhere else to go.