Electors in Lewes are going to the polls tonight in the country's first ever vote of no confidence in a town council.

All 12,000 voters eligible to vote in Lewes Town Council elections will have a chance to say whether councillors should resign en masse and fresh elections be held.

Eight polling stations will be open across the town between 4pm and 9pm tonight in an operation costing between between £3,000 and £5,000.

Votes will be counted in the town hall and the result is expected at 10pm.

It is the first time in living memory Lewes electors have used existing legislation to force a poll on a specific issue for the town's 12,000 electors.

Local government experts said it is the country's first ever poll where the issue has been a "no confidence" vote in elected councillors.

It follows the resignation of former mayor Graham Mayhew. He has been suspended from the controlling Liberal Democrat group for the way he handled a project to bring an art gallery to the town.

His supporters forced the referendum after getting more than the ten required voters to petition for a poll.

Voters are being asked to vote simply "yes" or "no" on whether they have confidence in the council.

Even if there is a "yes" vote the council is not obliged to stand down.

Dr Mayhew, a town councillor for 20 years, and his supporters have been campaigning for a "yes" vote on the grounds he has been unfairly treated.

Opponents of Dr Mayhew say he became too ambitious and secretive about funding the art project and the controlling Liberal Democrat group were right to throw him out.

Steve Watts spokesman for the Lewes Labour Party said: "Our town council has become a laughing stock. Labour did not vote for this poll, but now it has been organised we are encouraging people to vote against the council."

Rod Wilson of the Liberal Democrats said: "This poll is a complete waste of time and money and a total abuse of the democratic system.

"A minute percentage of the electorate have called this poll. We were democratically elected only 13 months ago and the time for an election is when we have completed our three-year term of office. Elections cost money and the people who have to pay for it are the people of Lewes."