It’s the kind of excess you would expect of a Premiership footballer.

But this £150,000 number plate isn’t attached to an England star’s blinged out Hummer – it belongs to the mayor.

The “CD 1” plate, which has been valued by independent experts, has been attached to the Mayor of Brighton and Hove’s car for the last thirty years.

But now with council bean counters trying to make at least £45 million of savings during the next three years, residents have called for the pricey plate to be auctioned off.

Peter Burr of Woodingdean, Brighton, wrote to his ward councillor Dee Simson about the issue.

He said: “Having just received our new council tax bill, within which the council claims to be making cost savings where possible, could you please explain why the mayor has a personalised registration number?

“The letters CD used to be the local registration letters for the Brighton area.

“However, since the new style registration numbers were brought in about ten years ago, the letters have absolutely no relevance whatsoever.

“£150,000 is a considerable amount of money which the council should put to much better use than just sitting on an official vehicle.”

In reply Coun Simson wrote: “As a council we are constantly reviewing all our assets to ensure that we are getting best value from them for the residents of the city.

“However, getting best value from our assets doesn’t necessarily mean selling them all off.”

The number plate refers to “corps diplomatique” and is believed to have been given to Brighton Borough Council more than 30 years ago.

Angela Banh, of registration plate experts www.regtransfers.co.uk, said: “It is a very desirable number.

“If it were to be sold at auction we would expect it to attract a great deal of interest and a sale price of £150,000 or more would not surprise us at all.”

A spokesman for the council said: “We believe the number plate has considerable historical interest and is part of the city’s heritage.

“We do not intend to sell off parts of that heritage on a piecemeal basis.”