A bill of £1.2 million has been spent developing controversial parking schemes in residential areas.

Brighton and Hove City Council paid £450,000 for outside consultants in addition to the cost of new machines and the administration of the schemes.

The cash has been spent on setting up parking initiatives in areas including central Hove, which are being introduced next month.

The figure was revealed at a city council meeting following a question by Lib Dem councillor Paul Elgood.

Coun Elgood said: "This is an unbelievable amount of public money, spent on implementing parking schemes which residents and businesses in the area do not really want at all.

"While there is widespread support for the council to take over enforcement of parking from traffic wardens, there is major concern over the introduction of paid parking in areas including central Hove.

"Residents see the introduction of paid parking as another tax, while businesses are telling me that they face rack and ruin when this is finally introduced.

"Now, we find out the council has spent £1.2 million on outside consultants from London and the administration to set these schemes out.

"Instead of spending this vast sum of money on outside consultants we could have used it to build an in-house parking scheme which really understood the needs of areas such as Hove.

"This would have led to a more sympathetic parking scheme, instead of this one which does not have a majority of residents or businesses supporting it in any form. You have to question this use of such large amounts of public money."

A spokeswoman for Brighton and Hove City Council said it was not true to say the majority of people in Hove did not want the scheme.

She said most of the cost was to set up the scheme in Hove but this also included the cost of the application to decriminalise parking across the city.

She said the transfer of enforcement from traffic wardens to private parking attendants, due to take place on July 16, stretched from Rottingdean to Mile Oak.

She said £450,000 was spent on outside consultants but that included the cost of administering the public consultation and work to decriminalise parking in the city.

She said: "We know it costs a lot of money to set up a sensible system of car parking but this is not the first time this information has been in the public domain."