Developers who want to provide heat and power for a city's "urban village" by building a mini power station have been told the pollution it would cause is unacceptable.

Billed as more efficient thanks to the use of wasted heat created by generating electricity, the combined plant was earmarked for land behind the Cobbler's Thumb pub in New England Road, Brighton.

It would fuel the multi-million-pound development on land next to Brighton station, which has already been approved.

Officers had recommended approval in principle for the development, which would be almost on the corner of New England Street.

But councillors heard nearby Preston Circus is already a pollution hotspot due to traffic.

A report said the pollutant causing concern there was nitrogen dioxide, exactly the same gas emitted from the combined heat and power plant.

Green group convenor Keith Taylor said: "Combined heat and power is a good idea but this is in the wrong place.

"Nitrogen dioxide is a pollutant affecting the respiratory system and we do not want any more next to Preston Circus."

He said chimneys more than 20m high would be too close to people's homes in the development, many of them occupied by families.

Green councillor Sue Paskins said: "This should have been in the middle of the development and not next to it."

Lib Dem councillor David Watkins said having the plant at the edge of the scheme would be ineffective.

Combined heat and power is particularly good at getting rid of carbon dioxide, which is one of the main pollutants in towns and cities.

Reducing this gas was a condition of planning consent for the station site development of offices, hotels, housing and a supermarket.

The planning committee decided to defer the application so developers and their energy experts could adjust the scheme to look less stark and create less pollution in Preston Circus.

One solution could be to use technical equipment in the exhaust gas stream from the plant to remove the gas.