Ice and snow before Christmas halved the number of shoppers coming into the centre of Brighton.

Shop owners across the city have criticised Brighton and Hove City Council's response to the conditions as many lost vital sales during one of the most important trading periods of the year.

While main roads were cleared, pedestrian areas such as The Lanes and North Laine remained covered in ice for several days.

Latest footfall figures from the Brighton and Hove Business Forum revealed that only 85,269 shoppers made it into the centre during the three days of bad weather between December 18 and 20.

This compared to 168,838 the year before – a drop of 49.5%.

Traders called on the council to be more pro-active when clearing streets and recognise the importance of making areas such as The Lanes and North Laine accessible for pedestrians.

In response to criticism over the way it handled the last cold snap, the city council has announced new measures to tackle ice, including asking park staff and street sweepers to hand-grit pavements, increasing the number of grit bins and dumping salt on street corners for the public to use.