A massive protest has been voiced against plans to turn a former retirement home for actors into a rehabilitation centre for recovering alcoholics.

Brighton and Hove Council has received a barrage of complaints from residents, including many who fear the area could become a haven for street drinking if the plan by Phoenix House housing association is approved.

The association submitted a planning application to take over the Chanctonbury home in Dyke Road, Brighton, last month.

The council has received 85 letters and two petitions objecting.

Denise Melia, of Coventry Street, Brighton, collected 22 signatures on her petition, while Andreas and Jill Demetriou collected a further 70.

Parents have also joined the protest because the building is close to their children's schools.

Paul and Kathy Myles, of Hill Road, Lewes, said they did not want a centre for substance misusers so close to Brighton and Hove and Sussex Sixth Form College, where their 17-year-old son Louis is a student.

Mr Myles said: "It is hard enough to guide our youth through these tender years with respect to drug abuse without what is obviously a planning blunder of Tom Sharpe proportions."

Christopher Thomson, principal of the college in Dyke Road, has written to the council opposing the scheme and to parents with children in the upper sixth.

He said: "My concern is for the young people and the temptations that would come their way and I would want to keep them at arm's length from any kind of substance abuse."

Windlesham School is also situated less than 100 yards away and there is a play area for pre-school children nearby.

Phoenix House had previously tried to open a project in Eaton Garden, Hove, to replace its cramped facility in Seafield Road, but withdrew its application when residents objected.

Brighton and Hove Council is now waiting for comments from the police before it sets a date to discuss the scheme.

Phoenix House was unavailable to comment.