THE Argus has stepped up the campaign to save the French Convalescent Home by delivering a petition bearing the names of more than 2,000 protesters to council planners.

Yesterday Coun Chris Morley, chairman of Brighton and Hove planning committee, accepted a huge bundle of Argus petitions.

They were signed in just a matter of weeks by those angered and upset by the bid to demolish the imposing chateau and rehome its 40 elderly and frail residents.

The Argus and all those who have backed our protest are calling for the unique building to be saved by Bovis Retirement Homes, which wants to send in the bulldozers and build 67 modern sheltered flats.

Speaking at Brighton Town Hall, Coun Morley, who with his fellow committee members will consider the Bovis application, said: "We are very grateful to receive this large petition and I will see that it is presented in due time at the planning committee."

The plans are likely to go before the committee on December 21.

People from all over

Sussex have been signing our petition at newsagents while hundreds have sent completed petition forms to our head office, often including letters expressing their feelings about the plans.

One man wrote: "What are they going to do with the poor old people who should be given some respect in life? Why don't they knock the landlord's house down and throw him into the street?"

A woman from Buckingham Street, Brighton, wrote: "I believe this wonderful and distinguished building should remain in Brighton as part of our

heritage."

Trustees of the French Convalescent Home stunned residents of the home, dual registered as a care home and nursing home, by announcing they were closing the home and selling the building to Bovis for a rumoured £1.5 million.

Staff only found out about the plans when they saw a planning notice pinned to

a lamp-post outside the

101-year-old building in Kemp Town.

They immediately launched their own campaign, backed by the Argus, in which they collected more than 3,000 names on their own petition. It, too, has been handed to the council.

The Argus and the home have also called on Culture Secretary Chris Smith to list the building.

We helped put together a package of photographs showing how the home, originally established to care for French men and women in England, has not been altered in any way.

The pictures will be vital to prove the building is as magnificent today as it was when built and should qualify for listed status.

Catherine Gennaro, manager of the French Convalescent Home, said: "We are eternally grateful to the Argus. Without the paper's help, we would never have come as far as we have in our campaign."

Relatives of residents at the home were due to express their views at an action committee last night.

Meanwhile, final preparations are being made for the home's Christmas bazaar, being staged on Saturday from noon to 4pm.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.