An environmentally-friendly village of homes made with used car tyres and empty beer cans could be built within two years.

The Earthship colony at Brighton Marina would be the first such development in Europe. Prototypes of the ultra-green buildings, used as offices and community centres, have been built in Scotland, Belgium and Brighton's Stanmer Park but the multi-million pound development planned for land overlooking the marina would be the first dedicated to housing.

Plans for 16 one, two and three-bedroom homes, which would heat and cool themselves, harness solar and wind power and convert rain water for domestic use, were lodged with Brighton and Hove City Council last week by Earthship Biotecture. If approved work could start in Spring 2007.

Utility bills for the development, christened The Lizard, are expected to be no more than £100 a year.

US architect Michael Reynolds, who has been designing Earthships in New Mexico for 30 years, arrived in Brighton and Hove yesterday. He will present the plans to councillors and visit the site.

Mr Reynolds, 60, said: "The world is in a position where it is in need of something like this - a sustainable home. The benefits to people financially and to the planet are obvious."

Daren Howarth, of Biotecture, led the project to build a prototype Earthship at Stanmer Park in Brighton and will be spearheading The Lizard development with co-director Kevan Trott.

Mr Howarth of Islingword Road, Brighton, said: "Projects like this are vital because they are showing the way forward."

Built on land east of Marine Gate and north of Marine Drive, Brighton, the houses would cost between five and ten per cent more than a traditional home but that would be recouped through the savings on bills.

Each house would have 1,000 tyres filled with earth from the site forming the back wall. They would be built two metres into the ground and would trap sunlight in two layers of floor-to-ceiling windows.

A layer of earth and insulation behind the back wall would store the energy and release it as the rooms cool down.

The walls would be covered with adobe and could be decorated with glass bottles moulded into the plaster.

Up to 20,000 litres of rainwater would run down the sloping roof, be caught and filtered for tap water. Water from the shower would be recycled and used to flush the toilet. Electricity would come from solar panels and wind turbines and human waste would be converted into fertiliser.

The car-free homes would have bicycle parking spaces and gardens would be large enough to grow vegetables.

A dew pond would be created and the land would be planted with traditional Sussex downland species.

For more information, visit www.earthship.co.uk.