ALBION will consider compensating villagers if house prices fall as a result of the club's move to Falmer.

At a public meeting last night, the club was asked if it would employ independent consultants to assess the impact on property prices and compensate residents if prices went down.

Replying to the anonymous question, chairman Dick Knight said: "We would be prepared to listen to such a proposition if it was proven there would be a dramatic loss."

The meeting, at the Gardner Arts Centre on the University of Sussex campus, was open to the public but Falmer villagers had been specially invited by the club.

About 100 people attended, giving them a chance to quiz Mr Knight and director Martin Perry about Albion's vision of a stadium for the community next to Falmer station.

Some were Seagulls supporters but most lived in or near Falmer.

Speaker after speaker said Waterhall, north of the A27 Brighton bypass, would be a better site.

And Brighton and Hove Council came under fire for not including other sites in the questions for its referendum on May 6.

Farmer Pete Lenihan, who rents the site field at Village Way North from the council, said: "Waterhall Valley is a brownfield site. It was a dump, a tip. We're here to look after the Downs."

Malcolm Harvey, of Falmer Road, Woodingdean, said: "Waterhall is the most common sense site, the road hub to end all road hubs.

"The focus of anybody who wants to get to anywhere is that roundabout down at the bottom with the rabbits there (the junction of the A27 and A23 London to Brighton road).

"You don't have to go into Brighton. It doesn't affect anybody.

"Rottingdean and Woodingdean have a huge pressure of people flying through from the coast road now. We will all have to suffer the terrible blight of a football club."

Mr Perry admitted: "When I started, when we first took over the football club, I actually thought Waterhall was the best place. But we have come to realise that Waterhall, for a number of reasons, just doesn't work."

He said a stadium north of the A27 would be "environmentally unacceptable" as it would break the barrier to development north of Brighton.

There was an outcry when the club submitted outline plans for a stadium at Waterhall two years ago, and Mr Perry added: "It would be seen by some people as the thin end of the wedge."

Mr Knight said there was "no viable alternative" to Falmer, adding: "There is very little land in this area. There is no site that is perfect. This is our only chance to let our local youngsters fulfil their field of dreams."

Eric Huxham, chairman of Falmer Parish Council, said Falmer had become a "sprawling complex" - sliced in two by the A27 which generated "unbearable noise and fumes", with "more chaos" from the Southern Water offices.

He added: "We will fight, along with many other organisations that have offered their support, in opposing the massive development of a stadium and all that it entails.

"Falmer is situated in a designated area of outstanding natural beauty. It's had enough and must be allowed to maintain its identity."

One of the audience added that using farming land for a stadium would "use up some of the food chain and put people out of work".

But to heckles from some in the audience, environmentalist John Carden told the meeting: "I have spent many years campaigning for the future of the South Downs but I've come out in support of the Albion.

Ploughed

"We have a farmer who for his own pleasure has driven a horse gallop through an ancient field system. For his own personal pleasure, he has said 'Stuff you!'

"Two years ago, another farmer decided to plough up a site of special scientific interest.

"Farmer after farmer ploughs it up. I want a slice of the cake. I want to go and support my local team."

Mr Perry said the site at Village Way North was not open countryside, but was overlooked by Sixties buildings "which aren't the most beautiful".

He added: "We are going to great lengths to sink the stadium into the ground. It's a very expensive exercise but we don't want to present to the village of Falmer the ugly, tall facade that can be the case with stadiums.

"We are lowering it into the ground and the roof slopes downwards, quite deliberately so that it is sympathetic to its setting."

Mr Perry said public transport would be encouraged, cycle and pedestrian access would be improved, and people would not be allowed to drive to the stadium on the B2123 Woodingdean Road.

He added: "We have quite deliberately kept our proposals in the Brighton and Hove area. There is therefore a gap which is the area covered and under the jurisdiction of Lewes. That gap will remain."

Albion would support a county-wide referendum on their vision.

To applause, Mr Knight told the meeting: "I believe that everyone in Sussex should be given the opportunity to vote on this issue."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.