A vicar has spoken out over the damage armed police patrols are doing to life in his village.

Specialist units regularly visit Rusper, near Horsham, as part of anti-terrorist measures on the flightpath to Gatwick Airport.

But the Rev Nick Flint, of St Mary Magdalene Church in Rusper, said it was impossible for people to contact the specialist police units who make daily visits to the town.

Even the village's PCSO did not know how to contact the officers concerned.

Police use a MANPADS - man-portable air defence systems - team which searches for potential terrorists at work in danger areas.

Mr Flint said the presence of police carrying guns in the village affected life in the community.

He told The Argus: "My generation grew up with it on the TV news.

"I have a daughter of eight and think, is this the world she's growing up in and seeing on the way to school?

"I was looking for them to acknowledge the effect this has on village life.

"My argument is, when they knew this was going to become a regular thing they should have contacted the local community."

He called on Sussex Police to foster better links with the communities near Gatwick where the units make their patrols.

In a letter to Sussex Police Inspector Mathew Scanlon, he wrote: "In this country armed police remain the exception even in modern policing and it was surely not only the duty of the police, but plain common sense to work with the community of this village, when weaponry was about to become the norm.

"There was however no consultation with the parish council or other bodies in the village."

Mr Flint met Sgt Al Cleland, of the Gatwick Aviation Security Unit, and other police staff last week.

He said the meeting was a success but he still found it difficult to get in touch with the senior police officers involved.

He said: "I think there was a grudging acknowledgement, a realisation that they are accountable to the community they were supposed to be working for."

Mr Flint acknowledged the need for police to work to prevent potential attacks on planes landing or taking off from Gatwick.

He said: "It was all too believable looking up and seeing how low the planes are."

Elsewhere in the village people said they have grown used to the sight of police patrols.

In Jonathan Sloane-Hill, landlord of The Plough pub in High Street, Rusper, said: "We live in troubled times.

"There is always a presence. In reality, they're just doing their jobs."

Sussex Police spokeswoman Christine Smith said it was important for the public not to be alarmed by the presence of MANPADS teams, who act in act in a preventative role.

She said: "Rusper is one of many villages that the officers patrol - they require weapons for their own safety and the safety of the general public.

"It is a national ongoing operation that is centrally funded and applies to all airports in the UK."

As a result of the meeting with Mr Flint, a new PCSO has been assigned to liaise between the MANPADS team and and all the village communities where they operate.