A landmark mock-Tudor mansion overlooking the south end of Preston Park in Brighton could be replaced with a modern, glass-fronted block of flats.

A stone's throw from the controversial proposed Endeavour tower, the plan for a five-storey building at Preston Place, 1 Preston Park Avenue, was rejected by Brighton and Hove city planners in January.

However, developer Berkeley Homes has now appealed against the decision.

A Government planning inspector will visit the site within the next two months and will make a final ruling by January.

The current house was built in the Thirties and is surrounded by lawns and trees. Overlooking the park, which opened in 1884, it is near the rose garden and rotunda.

Original plans for the site caused a storm of protest.

Neighbours say the new block would be impersonal, uninteresting and out of keeping with the area.

Ray Amis, of Cornwall Gardens, Brighton, said: "This city amazes me. We have a beautiful period city that we have a duty to preserve.

"But what are developers doing? Trying to knock down a lovely mock-Tudor house at the major entrance to the town.

"There is enough ugly, modern architecture along nearby Preston Road as it is.

"It is opposite the rose garden, which has been given a grant to be restored. It is a peaceful, magical attraction but if they build five storeys overlooking it, all that will be lost."

Selma Montford, secretary of the Preston and Old Patcham Society, said: "The proposal is too big and for too many flats. The design is lumpy. It would spoil that corner."

The city's planning sub-committee rejected the plan on ten counts, including quality of design.

No one from Berkeley Homes was available to comment.