Plans for a £750,000 balloon to take 600,000 people a year into the skies over Sussex have been put in jeopardy.

Swedish adventurer Per Lindstrand, who holds the world balloon altitude record, had hoped his HiFlyer would be ready to open by April.

But Brighton and Hove City Council planning officers are recommending that the planning committee refuses his application today.

Dr Lindstrand, managing director of Lindstrand Technologies, said: "It's very perplexing - whenever we have been down to Brighton we've been told it's a great idea.

"It does not make sense to me.

"Brighton is one of the most popular tourist places in England and we cannot see why it would not work here. It's not going to be noisy and it would give people a great view of the city they couldn't get anywhere else.

"We think it is going to be rejected but we want to work with the council and see why and what we can do."

The environment committee backed the plans when they were revealed last May, comparing the attraction to the London Eye.

Other HiFlyer balloons operate in sites around the world including New York, Acapulco, Niagara and Victoria Falls and China.

The UK's first HiFlyer opened in Bournemouth in 1998.

Dr Lindstrand added: "All you have to do is go to Bournemouth to see how successful it is there and how the people embrace it."

Last month critics reacted with horror to the scale of the proposals and argued they were so ridiculous they were not worth contemplating.

They were overjoyed to hear the application looked likely to be refused.

Selma Montford, secretary of the Brighton Society, said she would fight any appeal by Lindstrand Technologies.

She said: "We are very pleased it's recommended for refusal.

"The architecture of The Steine is very historically important and it would seem completely wrong and out of context to have this balloon here.

"We would not object to any site in Brighton but this particular one is not suitable."

When grounded the HiFlyer would stand 120ft high, dwarfing buildings near its take off site in Victoria Gardens, Brighton.

The balloon would ascend 68 times a day between 7am and midnight.

It would measure 72ft in diameter and be tethered to the ground through a 45-tonne high-tensile wire cable attached to an electrical winch system, which would pull it back to earth after a flight.

An octagonal-shaped gondola below would carry up to 30 passengers every 15 minutes for about £10 each, seven days a week and all year around if demand was great enough.

A 1.8m fence would be put up around the enclosure, taking up much of central Victoria Gardens just behind the Royal Pavilion and opposite the University of Brighton.