A restaurant owner who had a replica gun held to his head has said too little is being done to tackle violence and crime in his neighbourhood.

Mohammed Asaduzzaman, manager of Goa Spice in Richmond Parade, Brighton, says Government funding for deprived neighbourhoods is not being used to solve problems in the Tarner area of Brighton.

Residents' demands for CCTV and drug rehabilitation programmes had been ignored, he said.

Mr Asaduzzaman, 45, was threatened with the gun in the doorway of his restaurant last month by a man who has since been jailed.

He said: "I wasn't scared at the time because I just wanted to calm the situation down but I couldn't sleep that night.

"I have never had a gun in my face before and don't want it to happen to anyone else."

The man who attacked him has links to Brookmead, a block of temporary accommodation council flats in nearby Albion Street. Residents say the block has been a source of drug problems and antisocial behaviour for some time Tim Plowden, chairman of Albion Hill Residents' Association, said: "I think the city council should be a bit more careful about vetting the type of people they have in there.

"As it happened there was no harm done but that gun could have been loaded."

Since the incident Brighton and Hove City Council and Sussex Police have met and agreed to keep firmer checks on the accommodation.

Sergeant Peter Castleton, of Brighton and Hove's Partnership Community Safety Team, said: "It has been decided to increase the presence of community safety officers.

"The housing office will liaise with us on people being placed in Brookmead to stop associates of the man with the replica gun going there."

Mr Asaduzzaman and four other residents resigned last year from the Tarner Area Partnership, a steering committee set up in March last year to spend £220,000 from the Government's Neighbourhood Renewal Fund.

They had spent months gathering information about how people living in the area wanted the funding to be spent and complained their research was ignored.

Rahela Assar, 34, of Carlton Hill, a classroom liaison officer and mother of four, was among those who left the partnership.

She said: "We really wanted CCTV in our car park and that was not put in."

The partnership is a sub-group of Brighton and Hove's 2020 community partnership, an organisation made up of representatives from local businesses, the council and public sector bodies including the health and police service.

City councillor Simon Burgess said: "It is disappointing to hear criticism of the renewal project because the partnership has worked hard to get residents involved.

"The partnership has seen some great success, including the Tarner world festival and more policing in the area."

The renewal fund money has gone towards paying for a racial harassment case worker, a community development worker and an antisocial behaviour housing officer.

A spokesman for the partnership said there were opportunities for residents to air their views at bi-monthly meetings.