Campaigners have returned to the Lewes Road Community Garden in Brighton just hours after members cleared the site for developers.

A number of people returned to the garden and remained on the site today.

Other supporters stood outside the gates collecting signatures on a petition to try to keep the garden open.

On Monday members held an event to say goodbye to the garden after the founders decided not to fight a court possession order granted to developer Alburn Minos and instead moved their pots and planters to nearby schools and community gardens.

The company has planning permission to build seven flats and two retail units at the site. Tesco has confirmed it is interested in taking over one unit.

Duncan Blinkhorn, one of the garden’s founders, who had been made personally liable for more than £6,000 legal costs by the developers if the garden failed to meet the court deadline, said he was unaware some people were still using the garden.

He said: “We understood that a contractor was going to be putting up a fence and securing the site.”