Businesses which distribute leaflets in central Brighton will soon have to apply for a licence or face being fined £75.

Streets in The Lanes, North Laine and the sea front are being blighted by hordes of flyer distributors handing out leaflets, only for them to be dropped a few yards later.

Residents and shopkeepers have complained the number of discarded leaflets is giving Brighton a bad image and driving away custom.

Brighton and Hove City Council is to impose a flyer zone encompassing North Laine, The Lanes, Churchill Square and the seafront where a licence is needed.

According to the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005, the licence can regulate the material being distributed, give particular times or dates they can be handed out, as well as specifying locations.

Councillor Gill Mitchell, who chairs the environment committee, said the council would not be censoring flyers and charitable, political and religious material was exempt.

She said: "Flyers are a real problem - the business community is fed up with it. I know it is something of concern not just to residents but to visitors too."