A business park which could provide 1,200 jobs is set for approval despite strong objections from neighbours.

Cuckfield Hove wants to build three modern office blocks on the site of the old Alliance and Leicester building society headquarters at Hove Park.

There would also be 64 flats, 20 of them affordable, a day nursery, parking and landscaping.

Three earlier schemes have been turned down for one of the biggest commercial sites left in Brighton and Hove, largely because there would be too much housing.

Planning officer Ian Coomber is recommending councillors grant permission at a meeting on Wednesday, subject to several conditions.

There have been more than 100 individual letters of objections to the scheme, mainly from neighbours.

Objections have also come from the Woodland Drive Action Committee and from the North East Hove Park Residents' Group which employed planning experts DMH to make a 26-page submission against the scheme.

They complained about the architectural design and said homes would be overlooked but the chief worry was the effect of traffic.

Residents said not enough spaces would be provided on the site and there would be parking problems in the neighbouring area.

But Mr Coomber said the 669 parking spaces proposed for offices, if anything, was excessive and firms locating there should be asked to provide green travel plans.

He said roads should be able to cope with the extra cars and traffic lights were planned at the junction of Nevill Road and Woodland Drive.

A report to councillors says there is now a shortage of office space which has dropped from one million square feet in 1994 to 50,000 square feet now.

It adds: "We have already lost one major prospective employer, Chatsworth Industries, with 180 jobs, because we could not offer any accommodation. We could not now accommodate a major investment such as those large firms that have located here over recent months and have created 1,500 jobs such as Kimberley Clark, Inkfish and Victoria Real."

Mr Coomber said the new scheme would produce more office space than the old Alliance and Leicester building.

He added: "It is a unique opportunity to create a business park setting for potential businesses and employees.

"It is likely to attract inward investment as well as provide for the needs of expanding home-grown businesses."