Campaigners against a housing development say a colony of rare newts could land their local council in hot water.

Residents fighting to stop three new homes being built claim councillors at Horsham broke the law when they granted planning permission.

They have called on ministers to intervene before the houses provoke another battle with European wildlife watchdogs.

The objectors at Littleworth, near Henfield, say building would damage a colony of great crested newts.

The amphibians are protected by British and European wildlife laws and campaigners say they will take the case to the European Court if the development is not stopped.

Blake Long, who chairs the Littleworth Residents' Association, said: "It is a lot of hassle and paperwork and we would not want to do it if we did not have to."

The Government faces massive fines if a judgment by the same court, expected soon, finds councils elsewhere in England and Wales breached the EU's habitats directive.

Mr Long said Horsham District Council was told the rare amphibians lived near the site at Mill Lane before councillors granted outline permission for the homes.

Alf Simpson, whose back garden houses the pond where the newts live, said he counted about 20 last year and they had been recorded at the site for at least ten years.

He said: "It is illegal to disturb them when they are hibernating and when they are breeding in the pond. I can't even take one out of the pond without a licence."

The Sussex Wildlife Trust said the pond was close to where the houses were planned, but it was not certain the development would damage the colony.

Horsham District Council said neither the trust or English Nature had objected to building on the site and the developer had been required to produce an environmental impact assessment.

Director of planning Tony Stevens said: "At this stage I am confident that all the right matters were taken into account and considered in coming to the planning decision at the time."

Green Party Euro MP Caroline Lucas said this was an important test of whether ministers and councils would abide by EU wildlife rules.

She said: "We have got a very, very bad record on it. We have been named and shamed before and I think this is a test case on whether the Government is going to abide with the habitats directive."