THE mayor of Brighton was forced to travel to Littlehampton to celebrate the Queen's birthday after the city did nothing to mark the occasion.

Eastbourne, Worthing and Crawley, all held beacon-lighting ceremonies through their local councils and while councillor Lynda Hyde was in West Sussex the Lord Lieutenant of East Sussex, Peter Field, travelled to a similar do at Newhaven Fort.

But Brighton and Hove has been criticised for not getting in the spirit of the Queen's 90th birthday.

Ken Norman, a Brighton and Hove city councillor and self-confessed royalist, told The Argus: "It's a very poor show. What are we doing as a council?

"We ought to be involved but nothing has been actioned."

Asked why he thought nothing was happening, Cllr Norman added: "We are Brighton and Hove - we are a strange mix of people.

"There are a lot of people who aren't royalists and we know that but personally I think it would be sad if these celebrations ended.

"It would be a sad day if the monarchy disappeared from this country."

His colleague, Conservative leader Geoffrey Theobald, added: "I'm really quite surprised that Brighton and Hove, being the largest city in Sussex, is not involved. But that's a matter for the administration."

By contrast, Brighton and Hove City Council marked the Queen's diamond jubilee in 2012, lighting two beacons at Hove Lagoon and on a groyne near the Peace Statue. A third beacon was also lit in Rottingdean along with many others along the coast.

Cllr Warren Morgan, Labour leader of the council, said yesterday that royalty-related activities were the remit of the mayor's office and lord lieutenancy rather than a political thing.

A council spokeswoman added: “The council is marking the celebrations of the 90th birthday of Her Majesty with the mayor representing the city at a pageant hosted by the Mayor of Littlehampton and the Lord Lieutenant of East Sussex attending the lighting of a beacon in Newhaven.

"A number of deputy lieutenants will be supporting events across the county.

"There is no official council-organised event, however throughout Brighton and Hove residents and communities will be marking the event in ways appropriate to them, all with the blessing of civic dignitaries.”

Brighton and Hove City Council, as a unitary authority, sits in the same tier of council as both East and West Sussex county councils.

East Sussex was flying the Union Flag yesterday while West Sussex's chairman and Lord Lieutenant sent loyal greetings to the monarch.

The district and borough councils underneath them organised individual events.

  • With the Queen due to light the first of a chain of hundreds of beacons across the country last night, in Sussex, the practice was repeated across Sussex. This was at Burwash, Eastbourne, Crowborough, Alfriston, Heathfield, Uckfield, Newhaven, Newick, Peacehaven, Ditchling Beacon, Burgess Hill, Crawley, Worthing, Littlehampton, Bognor, Selsey.