A Sussex council spent £8,730 on a survey - and found out that some people think it is a "laughing stock".

Lewes District Council asked more than 800 residents for views on its performance and what it should be doing better.

It held discussions with focus groups, specifically questioning young people and ethnic minorities - and they were blunt in their criticism.

Their comments are contained in a report due to go before the council's ruling Cabinet tomorrow.

Among the key priorities identified by the public were the need to provide more affordable homes, particularly in Lewes itself, and to ease traffic problems in the town, which many blame on the council's own employees.

The council was apportioned "a considerable amount" of blame for giving inadequate notice of flooding before the disaster of 2000.

There was also criticism from people living outside of Lewes, who believed much of the council's effort was geared towards providing a high level of services within the town, to the neglect of other district areas.

One Seaford resident commented: "I don't know exactly what the council does but I lived in the West Midlands, where the facilities were fairly amazing, and now I live down here and everybody says Lewes District Council's a laughing stock and it is.

"We live in Seaford because we want to live in Seaford. There are more people there than in Lewes. We go to the tourist information and you get a tiny little map of Seaford and on the back of it a dirty great map of Lewes - and I think that probably sums it up."

The council was praised in several areas, including its refuse collection service, street cleansing, leisure services, parks and gardens, play schemes and public health initiatives.

Some of the harshest criticism came over flooding.

One person said: "It's got steadily worse since the council has allowed them to build everywhere. Basically, it's their responsibility. It's nobody else's fault."

Council Leader Ann De Vecchi said she welcomed the criticism just as much as the satisfactory comments.

She said: "We were keen to get honest comments from our residents.

"We are already taking action to improve some of their priorities, such as expanding the kerbside-recycling scheme to more areas of the district, and putting more resources into community safety."

The council said it had always made planning decisions on the basis of advice from the Environment Agency.