Developers have scaled down plans for a 12-storey seafront tower.

The building proposed for the site of the former Caffyns garage in Kingsway, Hove, by Berkeley Homes has been slashed to seven storeys.

The number of flats in the glass-fronted building has been cut from 98 to 71 and a block of affordable housing has been replaced with three four-bedroom town houses.

Parking spaces for 50 cars are included in the development, detailed drawings of which were on show at the Kingsway pub yesterday and today.

A second planning application is expected to be submitted to Brighton and Hove City Council after councillors unanimously threw out the first plans, listing a dozen reasons.

They said the application failed to meet guidelines on job creation and affordable housing and believed the height, scale and design failed to complement surrounding properties and would have led to a loss of privacy.

Berkeley Homes has launched an appeal but it could be up to a year before a decision is made.

Residents said the fear of living in the shadow of the 12-storey building had caused great concern.

Improvements had been made but the block was still too tall and out of keeping with the area.

Jackie Corbett, of Roman Road, said: "It is a little better than last time but still too high. They have started talking about it as a mid-rise building. I don't think Brighton and Hove City Council has a policy on mid-rise buildings. For us anything higher than Saxon Court is too much.

"We are glad the affordable housing has been incorporated with the other flats because the separate blocks they had planned would have been far too dense.

"The number of parking spaces does not seem realistic. Our road is already full of cars with nowhere to park."