A £273 million project to build a new hospital is under threat.

Health bosses have refused to accept a recommendation to build the modern hospital at Pease Pottage, near Crawley.

Campaigners fighting to get the hospital developed have called the decision outrageous.

West Sussex Health Authority board said it had serious reservations about the impact the cost of the new hospital would have on other health services.

A review group made up of health professionals and interest groups spent almost two years reviewing the long-term future of health facilities in north Sussex and south east Surrey.

It agreed on a package of improvements in primary and intermediate care but was divided on where the major hospital for the area should be.

Supporters of a new hospital for Crawley said the town's existing hospital in West Green had no room to expand.

They said the town's population was expanding and needed a hospital that would provide all the facilities needed.

However, opponents said major hospital services should be developed at East Surrey Hospital in Redhill with Crawley becoming a community hospital.

They said it would be much cheaper and the money saved could be spent on buying vital equipment for patients.

Earlier this year, the chairman of the review group used his casting vote to recommend the Pease Pottage option.

A spokesman for the Crawley Hospital Campaign said the health authority was ignoring the hard work of the review group.

He said: "I think it is outrageous. The aim of the review was to put the best possible option forward for the future of health services in this area and that is what the group did.

"Now, after all the hard work and effort, the authority is saying it doesn't like the decision that was made. If it is money it is worried about, it should be working on the Government to get the money."

The health authority board accepted the primary and intermediate care recommendations.

It has recommended local primary care trusts should get together with the new Surrey and Sussex Strategic Health Authority to look at the hospital option again.

Chairman Teri Hawksworth said: "We learned an enormous amount during the review process.

"However, we are concerned that the recommendations for the acute services should be reviewed in the light of their affordability and potential impact on other services."