Students who park cars around a village pond while attending lectures are forcing a parish council to introduce Parking restrictions.

Falmer Parish Council is in talks with East Sussex County Council about ways of resolving parking in the village.

The parish council says a residents' parking scheme, vigorously enforced by traffic wardens, or a two-hour waiting restriction is the answer.

The villagers and parish councillors say the disruption caused by cars belonging to students and staff at Brighton University shows why a football stadium for the Albion should not be built at Falmer.

Chairman of the parish council, farmer Eric Huxham, said: "We have this problem now. We cannot have a stadium here."

The farmer has, on occasions, physically moved cars parked near the entrance to his farm so vehicles could leave.

Mr Huxham said the parking had got worse since the start of the autumn term because Brighton University had increased its intake of students at its Falmer campus.

Mr Huxham said students knew their cars could be parked all day in Falmer village without fear of a ticket.

Parking restrictions are already in force on the north side of the village, which is adjacent to the Sussex University campus.

Mr Huxham said: "Ninety nine per cent of the problem is caused by students from Brighton University. The problem seems to be a lack of parking at the university. It cannot go on like this.

"We like visitors coming out to Falmer from Brighton, walking round the pond and getting a bit of fresh air but they can't do that now because of the large number of cars parked here.

"If there was an emergency at the farm, fire appliances and ambulances would not be able to get through. I think parking restrictions are inevitable."

Peter Lenighan, who runs The Farm Shop at Falmer said: "We are very annoyed that we are being used as an overflow car park.

"Brighton University should provide enough parking spaces for the increasing number of students and staff who have cars."

A spokeswoman for Brighton University said: "The university would support a residents' parking scheme and time-limited parking for visitors.

"We are discouraging staff and students from parking in Falmer village by placing information on windscreens and are encouraging people to make more use of public transport."