The future of a woodland camp for inner-city children is in doubt after angry villagers complained it was a blight on their community.

The Woodcraft Folk, founded in the Twenties on the principles of peace, fraternity and co-operation, runs camping trips for children across the country, including at Lurgashall, near Petworth.

But villagers say they are outnumbered almost two-to-one by children in the summer months.

They say the camp has flouted planning laws by building a swimming pool without permission, coaches cause extra noise and traffic and some of the children are badly behaved.

Anthea Martin-Jenkins, chairwoman of Lurgashall Parish Council, said: "There are only about 600 people in the parish and 200 in the village itself. The Woodcraft Folk tend to bring large numbers of children which overwhelms the village. Once there was a camp with 1,000 people in it."

She said the entrance to the camp site was off the village green and that coaches disrupted weddings in the parish church and cricket matches on the green.

She said: "We live in a tranquil environment. That is why people choose to live here. You don't want to hear hundreds of children screaming in a pool."

She said the village welcomed small groups of campers and liked the idea of giving inner-city children a taste of the countryside but resented the impact of large groups.

A village action group called Lurgashall Watch has been set up to campaign against Woodcraft Folk and the parish council is also demanding better supervision and maintenance of the site, a relocation of the swimming pool and a restriction on numbers.

The Woodcraft Folk have a Camping Exemption Certificate from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, meaning they do not need planning permission for the 42-acre site they have owned since the late Eighties.

But it runs out in November and a spokesman for the group said they were considering whether to apply for a new one.

Chris Pyke, acting general secretary for Woodcraft Folk, said: "We are, and we have to, take local people's feelings into account. We are still considering what to do about a new certificate.

"We were set up to take young people from inner-city areas to the country to let them appreciate and learn about a different environment. I think there is as much need for this now as it there was 80 years ago."

A spokesman for planning authority Chichester District Council said it had received a number of complaints about Woodcraft Folk's use of the land and objected to a new exemption certificate because of the large scale of some camps.