Television detective Chris Ellison and his neighbours have stopped developers turning a family home into flats.

The actor, known by millions as Detective Chief Inspector Burnside in The Bill, joined his neighbours in a campaign to save the period property in Wilbury Avenue, Hove.

Brighton and Hove City Council's planning committee turned down the scheme, against the advice of officers.

Goldsmid Labour councillor Vince Meegan said approving the scheme would open the floodgates for other blocks of flats.

He said there was a demand for traditional houses and added: "We should protect the character of the area."

Tory councillor Ken Norman said he could not possibly vote for replacing a good house with a block of flats.

His colleague Coun Carol Theobald said: "There is a danger that soon the whole of the city will be filled with flats."

Tory councillor Averil Older said: "Family houses, once lost, can never be put back. We will regret giving permission for this."

Coun Lynda Hyde warned against "town cramming" and Coun Geoff Wells said the new flats would be overbearing.

The councillors voted 6-3 against the scheme.

Mr Ellison, who lives in Wilbury Avenue, had to wait in the public gallery at Hove Town Hall for more than three hours for the debate but said afterwards: "I am very pleased with the result."

He and neighbours objected to the scheme mainly on the grounds of cramming.

They said the existing family house should stay.

Their case was put to the committee by resident Mark Brown, who said there were only 13 family homes left in the area.

Mr Brown, 40, a naturist, feared he and his wife Janice would be denied the privacy of their back garden if the flats were built.

Campaigners also said the flats would have destroyed the balance of mixed developments in the road.

Turner Associates, agents for the scheme, said the new building was designed to be be in keeping with the area and would help meet a pressing need for housing.

Councillors turned down another planning application despite warnings it could cost council tax payers a small fortune.

They voted narrowly against an extra storey, providing three penthouse flats, on the northern block of Coniston Court in Holland Road, Hove.

Last year the committee refused a similar application for the southern block but it was allowed on appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.

Officers warned the second refusal was unlikely to be upheld on appeal and could cost the council thousands of pounds.

But councillors claimed there were differences between the two blocks and the appeal was worth contesting.

Disabled Ann Agnew, who lives in a top-floor flat, said the extra floor would cause noise and nuisance which could not be justified.

Labour councillor Vince Meegan said: "People will suffer a serious deterioration in their quality of life."

Coun Theobald said: "This area is already very densely populated and this would cram in more residents."

Coun Hyde said there were infringements of human rights to consider.

Disabled representative Janet Turner said approval would discriminate against people with disabilities.

Several Tory councillors queried whether the appeal decision should be taken into account. Head of development control Maggie Brian said: "An appeal decision is a valid planning consideration."

Labour councillor Bob Carden, who chairs the committee, voted for approval and said: "I am not going to waste the city's money."