Brighton and Hove City Council is to be given new powers to rid the city's streets of abandoned vehicles.

The city has one of the highest rates of abandoned vehicles in the country, with 2,260 cleared from the streets in 2003/4 - that's six every day.

With the number of "nuisance vehicles" rising across the country, the Government is giving local authorities greater powers to fine people responsible for abandoned, untaxed and unlicensed cars.

Keith Hill, minister for urban policy, said the moves would help cut the number of abandoned vehicles by 25 per cent by 2008.

The measures include strengthening councils' powers to immediately seize and destroy vehicles which have been abandoned, are untaxed or unregistered.

Offenders will incur increased fees and charges to reflect the cost of removal and storage to local authorities, which currently have to meet the costs where the registered owner cannot be traced.

But the council today complained that no new money was being offered by the Government and the legal definition of a "nuisance" vehicle remained unclear.

A spokeswoman said: "There will only be greater changes to how we combat car dumping if greater resources are made available.

"It should be noted that there does not appear to be any Government funding to increase the capacity of local council abandoned vehicle units - Brighton and Hove has three officers to cover all vehicle-related operations across the city.

"This means that costs will fall onto the local authorities and hence council taxpayers."

She added that as Brighton and Hove residents already paid for the removal of cars without owners, they were unlikely to be happy about paying for taking away owned cars.

About 4,000 vehicles have been removed from Sussex's streets since April 1 as part of Operation Crackdown.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: "The plans follow what we are doing in the city anyway."

Keith Hill, minister for urban policy, said: "Nuisance vehicles, whether abandoned, untaxed or unlicensed, blight neighbourhoods across the country.

"They damage our environment and our communities, and they attract criminal damage, vandalism and arson. They also divert public money from other important local services."