Worried neighbours have been assured that a new centre for mentally ill people will not be "some kind of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest asylum".

A public meeting was called by residents living near to a former nursing home in Southwick after Adur District Council approved a plan to turn it into a day-care centre for people with mental health problems.

Residents fear that the Shoreham and District Mental Health Association's centre would cater for dangerous patients and put them at risk of attack.

Josephine Clark, 48, of The Green, Southwick, said: "We do not need these mentally ill people at liberty to come and go as they please, in a part of Southwick where the passers-by are particularly vulnerable.

"The area is en route to three schools, opposite the doctors' surgery and opposite the local community centre."

Mrs Clark is one of 106 residents who objected after discovering the plans to convert the large Victorian building at 45 Southwick Street.

She said: "Southwick hasn't forgotten the murder of its dear, kind innocent Seagull Lottery agent, Marie Harding, by a severely mentally ill patient less that two years ago."

But the mental health association said the neighbours have nothing to fear.

Service manager Gaynor Platt said: "People have seen the words mental health and jumped to completely the wrong conclusions.

"What's surprising is that not one of the concerned neighbours has contacted us to find out what we do.

"This is not some kind of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest asylum.

"We do not have dangerous patients. If people were dangerous they would be in a hospital, not with us."

Mrs Platt said the centre provided an important lifeline for people coping with mental illnesses such as Tourette's Syndrome.

She said: "Most of us know someone with a mental illness.

"One of our patients could be your next door neighbour and you would never realise. They are perfectly normal."

The centre caters for up to 25 patients, providing cooked meals, arts and crafts, drama, therapy, games, pool, social activities, work training and education, respite care and other services.

It is converting the house with the help of a £300,000 Lottery grant after outgrowing its current premises in The Old School House, Ham Road, Shoreham.

Mrs Platt said: "We have been there for 22 years and there has never been a murmur of trouble.

"I am confident we can convince people that their fears are entirely unfounded."

Mrs Clark also questioned the council's process in deciding the application. It was approved by the head of planning after he was given delegated power to determine the application by the planning committee.

A council spokeswoman said the committee met to discuss the application on Tuesday, May 2, but could not make a decision because the deadline for public consultation was May 5.

She said: "The council's consultation procedure was fully complied with, which included a notice in the local press, a site notice, the council's website and 18 letters sent to close neighbours."

The meeting at Southwick Methodist Hall was called by ward councillor Julie Searle and chaired by East Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton.