The disabled six-year-old neighbour of Chris Eubank is going to the High Court over the ex-boxer's plans for the redevelopment of his home.

Mr Eubank has planning permission to demolish his two detached houses in The Upper Drive, Hove, to make way for flats.

But Adam Harmer-Strange has applied for a judicial review which would effectively halt the work.

Adam suffers from severe learning difficulties and his parents fear his life will be destroyed by building work on the other side of the garden fence.

He has Asperger's, autism and Fragile X syndrome - meaning any change in his environment would be extremely traumatic. He faces the prospect of being drugged with sedatives to help him cope with the noise, dust and disruption.

Adam's brother Lawrence, 11, also has severe learning difficulties and would suffer, it is claimed.

The family has served papers on Brighton and Hove City Council saying it failed to consider their son's human rights when approving plans for the development.

The High Court has the power to rescind Mr Eubank's planning permission, gained at the end of a two-year fight with neighbours.

Adam's mother Linda, 45, said she was prepared to take the case all the way to the European Court of Human Rights.

A legal wrangle with an autistic child could be a blow to Eubank's image as a caring charity supporter.

Adam's parents moved into a quiet family home in leafy Hove and both gave up working full-time to help their children.

Mrs Harmer-Strange said: "This is going to devastating for both my children.

"Any minor changes to Adam's environment causes him extreme stress, which results in him doing to harm to himself and his carers.

"It's a nightmare. The amount of change in his environment is going to be immense so the knock-on effect on him and the rest of the family is going to be immense."

Her husband Steve, 46, a training consultant, said: "Adam has a lot of problems and challenging behaviour.

"To give an example, we brought home a Christmas tree and he went ballistic just for moving the sofa.

"A building site next door is going to be hugely disruptive."

The children are treated in a conservatory in the back garden, inches from a shared wall with the Eubanks.

The proposed development would involve 41 flats in five blocks.

Councillor Anne Giebeler has launched a No Inappropriate Development campaign to block applications to replace family homes with flats.

She said: "This is a matter of human rights as these are severely disabled children."

Barrister Celia Record, who will represent the family, said: "The children have applied to the High Court for a judicial review of the decision made by Brighton and Hove City Council.

"The case refers to Article 8 of the Human Rights Act, which is a right to privacy and respect for home and family life.

"My advice is that they would have an arguable case but at this stage all that has happened is permission has been applied for."

She said a precedent did exist where human rights legislation had been used to overturn a planning application.

Brighton and Hove City Council landed a £30,000 legal bill when its decision to allow the demolition of a house in Withdean Avenue was overturned by the High Court.

Councillor Bob Carden, chairman of the planning committee, conceded the Eubank case could reach the European courts at a cost to taxpayers.

He said: "When we dealt with the application we were aware of the situation regarding the children and took that into consideration.

"When we considered the application the most intensive part of the development was to be built furthest away from the family.

"We are aware they were on about human rights and we took everything into consideration - we do with every application.

"Our planning committee is beyond reproach and the decisions we reach are honest and fair."

Chris Eubank and his developer John Regan, of Birch Restorations, were unavailable for comment.