The vicar of Brighton is fighting to save the town's most famous church from closure.

The Rev Douglas McKittrick, vicar and rural dean of Brighton, said £1.5 million was urgently needed to keep St Peter's Church, near The Level, open.

He said: "Structurally, the place is in dire straits. Closure would be tragic. I am desperately worried about the church building. I am losing sleep because the building is falling down around us."

And he asked: "What is the council doing about it?"

Alan Longley, promoter of an appeal to raise cash for the church, said hundreds of thousands of pounds were needed to restore the roof, wiring and heating.

He said St Peter's was the nearest Brighton had to a cathedral, adding: "It makes me cry that people don't want to try to preserve it. I am doing my best to try to rectify that but we might have to close the church.

"The walls are crumbling where the damp is getting through and it is a dangerous situation."

Mr Longley said St Peter's had become an eyesore and it would be a great shame if the main church in the town closed down at a time when Brighton and Hove was bidding for city status.

So far he has raised about £1,000 towards repairs from a share scheme called the 2000 Club, well short of the £10,000 he had hoped to raise by the turn of the year.

More money goes into the pot from carol concerts and other church events but it is a tiny fraction of the sum needed.

The outside of the church has already been fenced off to protect people from crumbling masonry.

Fr Michael Wells, deputy vicar of St Peter's, said: "It is part of the town's heritage and we don't want it to fall down. But there is a limit to the amount the congregation can give in supporting its physical survival."

Brighton Pavilion MP David Lepper said: "I have offered Douglas all the help I can give. It is important that we do all we can to raise the money."

Brighton and Hove Council spokesman Alan Stone said: "We very much hope St Peter's won't close, but councils don't have funds to restore churches.

"We don't need a cathedral to be a city - Cambridge hasn't got one - but it would be a great source of pride to many people."

Canon Will Pratt, spokesman for the Diocese of Chichester, said the Church of England did not have any money to restore its churches.

He said St Peter's was a very important building, dominating the centre of

Brighton, but if it had to close for safety reasons then it had to close.

St Peter's was designed by Charles Barry, who went on to design the Houses of Parliament in London. Work started on the church in 1824.

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