SCORES of small businesses in Shoreham Port could be kicked out of their premises to make way for housing under relaxed planning laws.

Some 20 companies at Maritime House at the Hove end of the port face losing their homes with the owner looking to sell the building for residential development.

Businesses affected include Vanworx, Oyster Diving and Time Accountants.

Shoreham Port development director Peter Davies warned residential development in the heart of the port would "hold back growth" and adversely affect the wider regeneration plans for the Shoreham Harbour area.

Ron Crank, outdoing chief executive of Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), also warned the development could affect Shoreham Port's sustainability to continue as a successful operation.

The Maritime House redevelopment would be allowed under permitted development rights, a recently extended government policy, which enables change of use of certain buildings without planning consent, such as business premises into residential.

Mr Crank, who steps down as chief executive of the LEP at the end of the year, criticised the policy in an open letter to minister for small businesses Anna Soubry MP.

He wrote: "Most of the businesses affected [in Shoreham] are SMEs and struggle to relocate when displaced.

"Building homes in a business district is also unsuitable for many reasons, not least because some businesses will be unable to operate and grow in proximity to residential housing."

In the letter Mr Crank also wrote about the threat to Manor Royal, one of the largest business districts in the South East.

He said: "The loss of crucial employment space in Crawley is so rapid and at such a scale that business growth is being prevented. 500,000sq ft, of employment space the equivalent to nine football pitches will have disappeared by the end of 2015.

"That means hundreds of job opportunities lost. The loss of employment space is equivalent to nearly 2,000 office jobs or over 500 manufacturing jobs. There is also a growing threat to the town centre economy. Over 60 per cent of employment land is being lost in Crawley town centre preventing new jobs and business investment."