Proposals to build underground seafront car parks have been condemned as madness by environmental campaigners.

Brighton, Hove and Mid Sussex Friends of the Earth said the plan would turn the clock back 20 years and push the city closer to gridlock.

Conservatives on Brighton and Hove City Council want to build underground car parks at Hove Lawns and Brunswick Square to create more space for frustrated motorists.

The proposal was suggested in a Tory policy document aimed at providing extra parking to tempt more shoppers and visitors to the city centre and seafront.

Friends of the Earth spokesman Ian Davey said the car parks would be a magnet for more cars at a time when people were beginning to recognise the need to reduce congestion and pollution.

He said: "These proposals are absolute madness. Have these politicians learnt nothing from their failed road and car-based transport policies of the past?

"Tory suggestions to build car parks underneath Hove seafront are laughable and should not be taken seriously. If implemented, they would result in a flood of cars on the city's streets and would wash away plans for sustainable transport.

"Instead of wasting time and money on these grandiose schemes the Tories and other politicians should get behind those trying to save our city from ever increasing traffic congestion."

A Government-backed study, unveiled for consultation in May, recommended significantly increased charges for long-stay car parking.

The study said drivers should be charged to enter major urban centres. New park-and-ride schemes were also needed to tackle city centre congestion.

The study said such charges were essential to halt growth in vehicle use, which is expected to rise by 50 per cent by 2030. The money raised from the charges should be ploughed back into public transport.

Tories in Brighton and Hove, who promised a review of car parking charges, said they had to look at ways of dealing with car parking problems.

Brian Oxley, Tory leader on the city council, said he did not want to declare war on motorists as Labour had done.

Tory councillor Pat Drake said: "We support sustainable transport but we believe that one of the greatest sources of pollution is people entering towns and driving around in circles to find parking spaces."