Battle lines are being drawn after traders learned a new supermarket could open in their midst.

Rumours that a major chain is launching a bid to open in Portland Road, Hove, led to a crisis meeting at the weekend.

Councillors will spearhead a campaign to block any moves to open a supermarket at the site of Reflections bathroom shop and The Tile Shop, between Shelley Road and Rutland Road.

Conservative councillors Brian Oxley and Denise Cobb, who represent Westbourne ward on Brighton and Hove City Council, spoke to traders at their surgery in Stoneham Road on Saturday.

They confirmed they had heard a major chain was planning to open at the site – but said its identity and other details were not expected to become public until next week.

Coun Oxley said: “We heard on Friday there is the possibility of a major supermarket going into the site.

“What people are telling me is they are concerned about the impact on trade. People have worked very hard to keep their businesses profitable and keep them running.”

Coun Cobb said: “It is important for us to keep small businesses going. At the moment they are holding their own and we need to make sure that continues.

I am not against big supermarkets but they need to be in the right place.”

People with businesses in the area plan to petition the council to block the move by gathering signatures from customers and users of social networking website Facebook.

Gavin Beatty, who runs Clean And Fresh launderette in Portland Road, said: “Over the past 15 years the traders have worked really hard to create a diversity of trade.

Bringing in a conglomerate is obviously going to rob the area of that diversity.”

A staff member at Reflections, run by Crawley-based firm Plumbase, said: “There is no decision about what is happening.”

No one at Plumbase head office or The Tile Shop was available to comment.