Illegal parking is costing a bus company at least £500,000 a year through congestion and lost time.

Brighton and Hove Buses is urging Brighton and Hove Council to takeover enforcement from the police and remove offending cars.

The council wants to do this by next summer after hearing people's views on the move and on controlled parking zones in the two town centres.

Cabinet environment councillor John Ballance said the figure had been given by the company to the council and added: "It is a high cost."

He said: "We have to enforce regulations properly before we can do all the other things we want to achieve such as more pedestrianisation and bus lanes."

A new zone is proposed for central Hove between the Brunswick area and Sackville Road while changes are proposed to the long-standing Brighton zone, including longer hours.

Consultation packs are being delivered by the council to homes and businesses in the two town centres in the next few days.

There will also be exhibitions where traffic planners will answer questions.

A staffed Brighton exhibition will be held on July 7, between 10am and 6pm and July 8, between 9am and 4pm on Level Two at Churchill Square.

The unstaffed exhibition will be at Bartholomew House in Bartholomew Square from July 3-28.

A staffed exhibition at Hove will be held on July 13, at the Ventnor Hall, Ventnor Villas between 10am and 6pm, and at the town hall on July 14, between noon and 8pm and on July 15, between 9am and 4pm.

It will be unstaffed at the town hall on other days from July 3-28.