British Telecom wants to charge £130,000 for moving two metal boxes just a few yards.

Work will start in the next few weeks to

redevelop a run-down square in Brighton which has been used as a toilet and meeting place for

alcoholics.

Brighton and Hove Council is leading a £30,000 project to revamp the key town centre site, at the junction of Queen's Road and Gloucester Road, as part of the Ocean Boulevard scheme.

But BT has been accused of putting profits before the needs of the community after giving the council a "ridiculous" quote of £130,000 to shift unsightly engineer cabinets which would block the new entrance to the square.

Work will include building new maritime-style railings, paving, carrying out landscaping work and installing ground spotlights at Queen's Road Quadrant.

Local companies TSB and Argles, Stoneham and Burstows have made financial contributions.

The council wants to remove a wall between the square and Queen's Road suspected of shielding people using the area as a toilet and drinking place.

It hopes to open up the square to Queen's Road and encourage passers-by to make more use of the area.

But the cabinets, used by engineers to monitor lines, would be an eyesore and slap bang in the middle of the entrance.

BT, which makes more than £6,000 profit every minute, insists the job would be highly technical and it has a duty to shareholders to get a market price for the work.

But Geoff Ellis, of the North Laine Traders Association, said: "The idea is that people are encouraged to enter the North Laine, which we welcome.

"But we would expect a company like BT to put the public cost ahead of its profits.

"We would hope further discussions will resolve the matter. BT should act responsibly to enhance the area, rather than make matters worse."

Planning officer Liz Beth said the idea behind the facelift was to open up the area to pedestrians.

A BT spokesman said: "It's a major job to move these things and the answer is no, we couldn't make concessions for local councils on this one.

"We are a company, we have shareholders and it would set a precedent and everyone would want the same treatment. It's a commercial decision."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.