People who were flooded out of their homes are furious land at the bottom of their gardens could be earmarked for a car park.

If proposed changes to the Lewes District Council local plan are passed, industrial units and a long-stay car park could be built on land behind Orchard Road.

Rita Ellis, whose Orchard Road home was flooded in October, said: "It is ridiculous to allow more building on the flood plain. My house was under 12ft of water in the floods and this area of land was submerged.

"We only got to know about the proposals this week, which was only a few days before the deadline for objections."

Mrs Ellis has been forced to move out of her house while the ground floor is gutted. It is unlikely she will be able to move back before June.

Many of her neighbours are living in caravans nearby and have grouped together to object to the proposed changes to the local plan.

Mrs Ellis, who moved into Orchard Road more than three years ago, said: "The land should be left as it is as a space of open ground.

"If it is made concrete our gardens will be under water all the time in the winter because there will be nowhere else for it to run to."

A spokeswoman for Lewes District Council admitted the changes, which have been advertised, had been badly timed.

But she said the deadlines had been set by the Government and had to be kept to.

She said: "We don't have the democratic right to say to drop it.

"The proposal was agreed by councillors before the floods and has to be put through the democratic process and put to consultation.

"We want people to let us know what they think."