Councillors in Hangleton have complained that a mobile phone mast has created a blot on the landscape.

Mobile phone company Hutchinson 3G UK is building a mast on top of an existing BBC transmitter by the A27 in Hangleton, which is being replaced with larger equipment.

The development has prompted calls to extend the map of mobile antennae - produced by Brighton and Hove City Council following a two-year campaign by The Argus - to cover all of Sussex.

City council Lib Dem planning spokeswoman Jenny Barnard-Langston said: "The new maps only have masts that were approved since 1997.

"We have not actually got a proper county-wide map of every mast that has been erected. It's time that telecommunication companies were up-front about what they are trying to do.

"When digital comes on we will be left with awful eyesores across the city. With this one at Hangleton, not only have we got large emissions, we have a blot on the landscape that will stay there forever.

"Once digital is in place, companies will not go to the expense of removing their masts."

The building work to erect the 21ft mast at Hangleton has cut into a stretch of downland but a spokeswoman for Brighton and Hove City Council said: "We expect the site to be put back to how it was."

Permission to build the mast was granted in May.

Hangleton city councillor Gerry Kielty said: "It's disgusting. For an area like Hangleton there are too many masts. I think it is blind disregard for the environment. I'm really quite worried."

A Hutchinson spokesman said: "In terms of health and safety, the site will operate well within the guidelines set by the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection."

He said the mast would allow people to send and receive emails by phone and talk face-to-face on their mobiles.