Council bosses fear London boroughs are adding to local housing pressures by placing homeless people in seaside accommodation.

They say one reason for the large number of homeless people in Brighton and Hove is because other councils place asylum seekers in the area.

They have also been placed in Brighton and Hove by Kent County County Council and East and West Sussex County Councils.

Brighton and Hove Tory councillor Lynda Hyde said: "One reason for the large number of homeless people in this area is that other councils continue to place asylum seekers and homeless households in Brighton and Hove.

"I want to know what the council is doing to prevent our towns from becoming a dumping ground for other authorities.

"There is an acute shortage of affordable rented housing for local people.

"In my opinion, we should give local residents, council taxpayers, priority over all others."

Cabinet housing councillor Tehmtan Framroze said other councils such as London boroughs also had a legal duty to house people and suffered from huge pressures.

He added: "What some of them are doing is putting people in temporary housing here. But I would like to make it clear that we are not paying for them."

The councillor renewed a plea made last year, with the support of the Tory opposition, to these councils not to house people in Brighton and Hove which already had a severe housing crisis.

Coun Framroze said other councils all along the coast, especially Hastings, suffered from London placements.

He added: "We have no legal powers over this. We can only ask the councils not to do it."

Brighton and Hove received thousands of applications itself each year from people wishing to be accepted as homeless.

It carried out assessments of everyone who applied. They had to prove a connection with the area and then they were put in temporary housing chosen by the council.

"I want to stress to local people that their very scarce resources are only being spent on people who meet these criteria."