Campaigners fighting plans for a seafront skyscraper are staging a demonstration outside a town hall.

Members of the Marina Action Group were due to hand in a petition at today's full Brighton and Hove City Council meeting.

They say the outcome of the meeting could change their quality of life forever.

Councillors will be asked to waive part of the 1968 Marina Act which forbids any building above the height of the cliffs Permission was recently granted by Brighton and Hove City Council planners for a £235 million development at Brighton Marina, the centrepiece of which will be a 420ft tower, the tallest building in Sussex.

The building can only go ahead if councillors give consent for part of the Act to be ignored.

Residents and groups opposed to the scheme are furious it got the go-ahead after the first set of plans were refused permission last year.

According to the Marina Action Group more than 5,000 objections have been lodged to the current scheme.

A flyer calling protesters to demonstrate reads: "The council solemnly promised nothing above cliff height ever.

"What about integrity and trust?

"The cliff height is our most fundamental protection from utter gross and dense overdevelopment."

A letter accompanying the petition tells councillors that to waive the act would be a "total betrayal of the public trust".

The demonstration was starting at 3.30pm today, an hour before the meeting at Hove town hall.

For more information or to download a petition, visit www.brightonbeautiful.com