Farmers have denied their methods are to blame for the deluge of water which has left Sussex residents in muddy, deep water.

Householders in the Bevendean area of Brighton have partly blamed farming methods in the area for their homes being engulfed by floodwater and mud four times in the last three weeks during the recent heavy rainfalls which have hit the county.

John Heath, who has lived in Bodiam Close, for 17 years, said the feeling within the community was that both farmers and Brighton and Hove Council should share the blame equally for the flooding problems in the area.

Residents believe the downlands should have been left to grass which some say would have helped to absorb the water.

Alternatively, if farmers do plough the fields they should do so horizontally to create furrows which would have collected water, residents say.

People have also criticised the council for failing to maintain soakaways and dams in the area which may have alleviated the flooding.

But farmer Stuart West, of Bevendean Farm, Woodingdean, denies farming methods are to blame for the flooding.

He said: "Although I deeply sympathise with the flooded residents of Bevendean, I do feel the farming practice I have undertaken over the last 20 years has been correct.

"It has been unfortunate that due to the amount of rain over the last six weeks, there is nothing that could have been done to prevent this deluge of water."

Mr West, who is a tenant farmer, says the way in which the land had been ploughed would not have made a difference to the situation.

He said: "No matter which way a field is ploughed water will always run downhill. The majority of the farm's fields all slope down the valley leading from the Falmer Road to Bodiam Close, Bevendean.

This amounts to about 500 acres of land. Therefore all the rainfall will eventually work its way down towards the houses.

"When 28 inches of rain falls in nine weeks (normal rainfall is nine inches), five inches of this in 24 hours, it is no wonder you will encounter the problems we have all been having."

But resident Mr Heath believes farming methods are partly to blame for huge amounts of water pouring down the hillsides and bringing topsoil with it into residents' homes.

He said: "It was a sea of mud. There were even dead rats in it who had either drowned or been suffocated by the silt floating around in it."

Mr Heath says residents had to shovel tons of mud from their homes which had been carried into their homes by floodwater from the nearby slopes.

A full investigation into Brighton and Hove Council's handling of the the Bevendean flooding is to be put before a scrutiny managment committee which is expected to report back within a month. Council Leader Lynette Gwyn-Jones is to table questions which will include questions about farming methods and future methods of preventing flooding.