Sussex health bosses are expected to submit two plans for a new breast cancer care unit in rival locations.

The Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust is expected to place the applications simultaneously with Brighton and Hove City Council and Mid Sussex District Council for outline permission to build a new unit in the next few weeks.

The applications could create a unit on the Rosaz House site in Bristol Gate, Brighton, or on a site in the grounds of the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath.

The aim is to give health bosses an idea of which one would be more likely to succeed and the obstacles the health trust may encounter on either site.

The plans follow a proposal to close the Nigel Porter Unit for Breast Care at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton and move it to the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath.

Bosses said the Nigel Porter Unit needed to expand to meet Government targets but that there was no suitable site in Brighton.

However, campaigners determined to find a larger site for the unit in Brighton, suggested Rosaz House, opposite the oncology department at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, which is owned by the Brighton health trust.

Jean Nehls, of the Friends of the Nigel Porter Unit for Breast Care, who are campaigning to keep the unit in the city, said: "I'm sure councillors will look on the application favourably.

"They all backed us to keep the unit in Brighton."

Health bosses have aired concerns in the past that the Rosaz House site in Brighton could prove a more difficult site to build on than a site at Haywards Heath because of planning restrictions.

However, they agreed an application could be made for Rosaz House after campaigners demanded the site was considered.

A city council spokesman said: "The trust has told us they will put in an application this week for a building at Rosaz House and we're expecting it.

"We understand it will be an outline rather than a detailed application, which would have to follow."

An officer at Brighton and Hove City Council has already been appointed to examine the application when it arrives.