Plans to create a city farm in a deprived community are back on the agenda.

The East Brighton City Farm was on the verge of being shelved last month after the budget was slashed from £337,000 to £100,000 and conservation groups voiced their opposition to the scheme.

But the farm committee decided to persevere with the project and has agreed to use a new site in East Brighton Park.

The new farm is likely to be a scaled-down version of the Sheepcote Valley plans, which would have included a visitors' centre, learning centre, amenity block, animal barns, wildlife pond, sensory trail and adventure playground.

It is hoped the new facility will provide education and training opportunities for children and adults in animals, plants, design, ecology and alternative energy.

Cash-strapped regeneration body eb4U announced it could not afford the original grant allocation, while Brighton Urban Wildlife Group and the Friends of Sheepcote Valley expressed concerns after seeing the plans.

The site earmarked for the farm was protected and environmentally-sensitive land in Sheepcote Valley and the groups were not happy with the scale of the development.

The city farm committee decided it would be difficult to obtain planning permission without the groups' support.

Members held an emergency meeting and, after consulting with officers from Brighton and Hove City Council, agreed to switch to the new site.

The plans are a scaled-down version of the original farm design and the committee has started fund-raising to make up the cash shortfall.

Secretary Angela Airlie said: "Unfortunately it has become clear during the last couple of months that if we continued with our plans to build at Sheepcote there would be some opposition to our plans from local wildlife groups.

"We simply haven't got the money or the energy to launch into a huge planning battle."

The new site is on a large green space north of the children's playground in East Brighton Park.

Mrs Airlie said one advantage with the new site was that it already had some infrastructure, such as the playground and cafe.