Fatboy Slim and his fellow campaigners can breathe a sigh of relief after proposals for a six-storey tower block on Hove seafront were finally thrown out.

The scheme involved 70 flats and five town houses at the old Caffyn's building on Kingsway. It was rejected by Brighton and Hove City Council in February but developer Berkeley Homes was not to be deterred and lodged an appeal.

It was its second attempt to obtain planning permission for the site after it submitted plans for a 12-storey block in April 2005.

Faced with intense opposition from neighbours, including the DJ, otherwise known as Norman Cook, they slashed sixstoreys from the design and increased the amount of affordable housing.

The number of flats in the glass-fronted building was cut from 98 to 70, which included 30 affordable homes. The plans also included 924sqm of ground-floor offices, a basement car and cycle park and a terrace of five town houses.

But the move failed to stop the protests.

Residents feared they would be forced to live in the block's shadow and councillors argued it would not fit in with the area.

There were also concerns the building was replacing an art deco construction and was out of keeping with the area.

A public inquiry into the appeal finished in early August and the decision to dismiss it was announced this week.

Ward councillor Garry Peltzer Dunn, who spoke at the inquiry, said: "I felt it was an overdevelopment and was totally inappropriate and I am very pleased the inspector totally agreed. The decision was very well reasoned and a good guide for the future of the planning department."

Mr Cook is currently in Mali teaching football but was said to be delighted with the news.

Previously, he said: "The Caffyn's building was a beautiful Thirties art deco building. In Hove they are talking about the King Alfred ruining the Victorian splendour but I don't like the idea of building modern office blocks here. It will cut off people's view of the sea."

Berkeley Homes was unavailable for comment.