A petition with more than 1,700 names was today being handed to council bosses in an effort to overturn a care home closure in East Sussex.

Campaigners have been touring streets to garner support for their fight to save the New Moreton Centre.

They were gathering at Pelham House, Lewes, this morning ahead of East Sussex County Council's full meeting.

They hope their efforts will convince councillors to rethink their decision to evict the pensioners.

Eight elderly long-stay residents at the centre in Boscobel Road, St Leonards, are being moved out.

Tory-run East Sussex County Council sanctioned the centre's closure just before Christmas, triggering outrage from relatives.

The centre is to be developed into a 30-place rehabilitation centre to ease hospital bed-blocking using £1 million Government cash.

But the council has been halted in its tracks by the family of one resident, Clara Dudley, 86, who has been in the home for seven years.

Mrs Dudley's family won a judicial review after going to the High Court to say the county council acted unfairly.

A judge ruled Mrs Dudley's human rights had been violated and that it was arguable the council's decision to shut New Moreton was flawed.