Councillors are looking at creating a call centre to deal with the huge number of people wanting a range of information about the city.

Brighton and Hove Council, the city's biggest employer, currently receives more than 1.6 million calls a year.

Consultants say the call centre would cost £1 million at least to set up and more than £1 million a year to operate.

But it could be worthwhile if it provided a better service to most members of the public.

A review of public access found other councils had seen substantial improvements through developing call centres.

It also recommended setting up an e-contact centre, rationalising the number of offices and standardising hours of opening.

Opposition Tory leader Brian Oxley said the public deserved to receive up to date and helpful information.

What they did not need was to waste their time by entering a voicemail hell.

He added: "There ought to be a human voice at the end of each line as soon as possible."