The team behind proposals for a seafront urban playground have vowed to continue their fund-raising efforts following a National Lottery blow.

Brighton and Hove Arts Commission is hoping the Big Lottery Fund will still give some cash towards the plan despite the playground losing a televised contest to win lottery money last week.

Television viewers chose a community project in Canterbury to win £50,000 instead of the Brighton project, which would be the world's first purpose-built space for the rapidly-growing sport of free running.

The contest, last Monday, was part of a Meridian scheme in which television viewers vote for their favourite of two community projects in their region to win the money.

The urban playground team expected to lose.

Because of an administrative mistake, their project was screened on Meridian South- East, which only ten per cent of Brighton and Hove sees, instead of Meridian South which attracts the vast majority of local viewers.

An official complaint was made to the Big Lottery Fund before the programme when the project team found out what had happened but it was too late to change.

The team is hoping the Big Lottery Fund may still support the project as it was one of only eight shortlisted from more than 100 applications by a panel of residents from across the Meridian viewing region.

Brighton and Hove City Council environment member Councillor Gill Mitchell, who led the lottery application and who was featured in the Meridian film, said: "We feel hugely let down by the way the voting was organised and are still talking to the Big Lottery about how it can support the Urban Playground project.

"Being screened in the wrong area put us at a huge disadvantage so we are not surprised that we lost the final TV vote."

The playground is part-funded by Brighton and Hove Arts Commission following its selection as one of five winners to share a £100,000 Making a Difference fund for public art in Brighton and Hove.

The commission has given £35,000 to the urban playground, though part of that has already been spent on research and development.

To become a reality it needs another £70,000.