Concerns over plans for a 40-storey skyscraper which would transform the seafront have been raised in the House of Lords.

The 420ft block of flats, dubbed the Roaring Forties, would be the centrepiece of a £175 million development dominating Brighton Marina.

In a debate on the Government's house-building programme, Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe, from Brighton, added his voice to concerns that the extra 998 homes proposed for the marina would have a negative impact on the surrounding conservation area.

He also pointed out that the Lords has a direct interest because it established a select committee to examine the original Brighton Marina Bill.

Earlier this month, The Argus reported how an obscure transcript of a debate by MPs passing the Brighton Marina Act 1968 could derail Brunswick Developments' application for planning permission.

In the Lords debate on Thursday, Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe said Parliament had been satisfied in 1968 that conditions limiting buildings to below the level of the cliff were adequate.

He said: "It is true that there is a clause in the Act that allows for some flexibility for the erection of other minor structures but what the council is now proposing in conjunction with a building speculator flies in the face of what this House and the Commons wanted at that time.

"I hope that we will not proceed along those lines. Certainly, I would anticipate that there will be attempts to make sure that the council, at least if it wants to proceed, brings the Act back to Parliament to seek to amend it here and not outside the confines of Westminster Palace."

Brunswick boss Andrew Goodall has insisted the Act always envisaged the possibility there would come a time when buildings above the height of the cliffs were appropriate.