The Noble House Organisation is appealing to the European Court of Justice against the Heritage Lottery Fund's £15m award to restore Brighton's West Pier.

Owners of the West Pier, the West Pier Trust and its partners St Modwen Properties, recently submitted revised planning permission for the restoration of the pier, which also includes two pavilions on the esplanade.

But Noble, which operates the neighbouring Brighton Pier, says the use of lottery money to fund the commercial scheme amounts to unfair competition. 'If public money is needed to save the West Pier, that's fair enough. But let it run as a public venture and take the commercial aspect out,' says Noble's director, David Biesterfield. 'At the moment we're going from a dilapidated pier to a hard-nosed commercial development and the only way to get there is by a misuse of public funds.'

A previous appeal by Noble was rejected by the European Commission back in April and an award for £1.5m from the HLF was released for emergency works to save the concert hall. The council's decision on the application is due by the end of the year.