Elderly residents in sheltered accommodation will refuse to leave if a council tries to evict them from their homes.

Wealden District Council is to recommend Towermill Place in Polegate be sold on the open market after it declared it was below standard.

The recommendation, to be decided on Wednesday, states: "Having considered all the views, we recommend to sell the site on the open market and the needs and preferences of the residents of Towermill Place in light of this decision are prioritised."

The news is a devastating blow to the families of the 20 residents aged between 75 and 97 who live there.

Rosemary Battles, 62, whose mother Mary Hughes, 85, has been a resident there for four years said: "It stinks. I am fuming. I have not told my mum yet because she is already so upset and I am concerned how they will take the news.

"I don't want them to know until we know for sure what the council is deciding. But when they know the facts there are several there with enough fight left in them to refuse to move.

"The council's report said only seven of them want to stay but I see them every day and I know 14 want to stay, one wants to go to Westham, one wants to stay but her sister wants her in Bromley and four are undecided.

"I don't know where they got their figures from and they won't listen to me. We have seen in the news this week what can happen when the elderly are forced from their homes. I will not let this happen to them and I am prepared to do what it takes to keep their homes.

"It shouldn't come to this over the council's greed."

The residents and families had been campaigning to stay in their homes after the council announced they would have to move out while improvements were carried out.

They had not decided whether or not it would be a temporary or permanent move but the pensioners were fighting for the work to be done in stages so they could all stay together in their homes.

On May 24, Mrs Battles delivered a 2,725 signature petition to the council's chief executive Pat Kennedy which clearly expressed their views.

MP Norman Baker who visited the residents last month to listen to their concerns, yesterday said: "It is a betrayal of the people who live there and their wishes.

"At best it shows a lack of imagination and at worst a callous disregard for their wishes. We are seeing this Tory run council throwing old people out on the street effectively."

Roy Martin, county councillor for Polegate, who has also visited the residents, said: "I am not happy about this. We are very concerned about what is going to happen to the people."

A spokesman for the council said the needs of the residents were the top priority but refused to comment further until after the meeting on Wednesday at 10am.