Blatant drug dealing and antisocial behaviour in the city is “like nothing I’ve seen before”, says the council leader.

Fellow councillors say that drug use in front of children and drug users arguing with residents is now rife in Brighton and Hove.

They are so concerned that they are setting up a public meeting with senior police officers to discuss the issues.

They said residents have had enough of living in fear and want to know what is being done about it.

Writing in her column in The Argus today, Brighton and Hove City Council leader Bella Sankey said: “Every month I receive a significant number of emails from residents about antisocial behaviour, open drug taking, drug dealing and people being made to feel unsafe in their neighbourhoods and communities.

“As a city we’ve always had our struggles with crime and antisocial behaviour but the current situation is like nothing I’ve seen before. While these are increasingly regular occurrences, we cannot allow them to become normalised.”

Residents in the city centre say they regularly see people buying and taking drugs in broad daylight, often in front of children and on the steps of people's houses and flats.

One resident living near Western Road said: “I’m constantly seeing and hearing people buying and taking drugs, urinating in a nearby doorway and rowing with residents.

“I feel really sorry for the other people in the area, there’s always antisocial behaviour going on up and down my road.”

Councillors Jilly Stephens and Andre Czolak of Brunswick and Adelaide ward and Councillor Alison Thomson from Regency ward said their areas are particularly are badly hit by criminal behaviour and they want to meet police to help vent the frustration of residents.

Cllr Stephens said: “It’s a question of representing our residents who are walking out of their doors and finding people injecting on their doorstep.

“We want to work with police and want them to know exactly what we are seeing ourselves and getting from residents.”

Cllr Czolak said: “It’s an issue we are readily aware of at the moment. It feels like there is blatant drug taking going on with few repercussions.

“A lot of hard work is going on in the background but people make formal reports and feel they don’t see that much action.”

Councillors have not yet set a date for the public meeting but said senior police officials will be invited to hear the concerns of residents.

It comes after residents in a block of flats in Brighton said they had to step over drug users coming in and out of their building in the early hours of the morning.

Sussex Police were approached for comment.