A scheme to restore an historic park is being put on hold until 2001 - more than four years after the town was awarded a £543,000 National Lottery windfall.

Campaigners say the latest setback in the scheme to return Preston Park in Brighton to its Victorian splendour is a scandal.

Brighton and Hove Council was given £543,000 by the Heritage Lottery Fund in May 1997 and agreed to put up £29,000 together with £125,000 from council parks contractors Ecovert.

The five-year vision was to replant trees, restore shabby buildings and entrances, resurface paths, recreate the original vistas, install benches and restore the walled garden at Brighton town centre's largest park.

Work should have been coming to an end in 2002. But now the council says no major work will be carried out until winter next year at the earliest while a new project manager is appointed and the lottery bid is re-examined.

There have been disagreements in negotiations with the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage over how the work should be carried out. The council is believed to have come close to losing the grant on one occasion.

Selma Montford, of the Preston Park Consultative Group, said: "The public look and they see damn- all happening. It is infuriating and I actually think it is due to a lack of drive and will to get things done.

"I believe this is why English Heritage have insisted on the appointment of a project manager to drive things forward.

"In the end people don't believe anything will happen. I think the whole thing is a complete scandal."

Rob Fraser, council conservation and regeneration manager, said the delay was partly due to Brighton and Hove being one of the first authorities to bid for a Heritage Lottery Urban Parks Programme.

He said: "We have met with the Heritage Lottery Fund recently and agreed the original bid needs to be looked at again. There have been some delays because there were no procedures in place.

"We had some problems because the Heritage Lottery had a perception of what it wanted and it did not quite coincide with ours.

"Unfortunately, that means there will be very little going on until next winter at the earliest. There has been a delay no one is happy with."

A dedicated programme manager will be appointed to come up with a new plan for the project.

Mr Fraser added the council may re-apply for a bigger grant because the work was more expensive because of the historical research required by English Heritage.