Residents have lodged a formal complaint against a council after a mobile phone mast was put up near their homes.

Retired chartered surveyor Jerry Laurie says he has instructed solicitors to begin a legal challenge in a bid to get the One2One mast taken down.

It was put up two weeks ago outside luxury flats overlooking the seafront in Kingsway, Hove.

Residents of Bath Court say they knew nothing about the mast until workmen arrived to put it up.

Mr Laurie, a planning expert, is leading their fight for the 15m mast to be removed, saying they were not properly consulted. He said: "I have confirmed in writing to my solicitors my intention to proceed with a legal challenge.

"They will lodge a formal complaint with the council because I am satisfied there has been maladministration in dealing with this planning application."

Mr Laurie said he and other residents had not been told about the mast going up on land owned by the Texaco petrol station behind Bath Court.

He said: "A public notice is supposed to be clearly displayed on the site and anyone directly affected by it should be informed and given the chance to object.

"The notice was put up by the night window in the service station's shop, which local people would not have seen.

"We didn't know about it and so had no chance to object."

A Brighton and Hove City council spokeswoman said: "We have not yet received details of the legal action Mr Laurie intends to take.

"As and when we do, we will consider the matter through our complaints procedure."