The club has permission to build a 22,000-seater stadium at Falmer

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) fought the proposal for Brighton and Hove Albion's new stadium at Falmer through two planning inquiries.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott granted permission last October.

The CPRE said allowing the development on the Sussex Downs cast a shadow over one of England's finest landscapes.

Lewes council, with Falmer Parish Council and the South Downs Society, is challenging the planning consent in the High Court.

The site, on the outskirts of Brighton, is in the Sussex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

It is also partly within the area expected to become Britain's newest National Park.

The CPRE expressed its "disappointment" over Mr Prescott's decision in an open letter to the deputy PM on Wednesday.

Brighton currently play home games at 7,000-seater Withdean Stadium

It said it feared similar decisions might be made in cases affecting landscapes elsewhere.

In particular, it was concerned that local factors to do with economic regeneration and Brighton and Hove's lack of a home ground appeared to override national planning policy.

"When he announced the government's plans to designate the South Downs a National Park in 1999, John Prescott described it as a 'present from Labour to the nation'," said the CPRE's head of planning Henry Oliver.

"That makes this decision - made for what we think are the wrong reasons, and which will do lasting damage to one of our finest landscapes - even worse."