A traveller site has 24-hour security at a cost of £85,000 a year to the taxpayer.

Brighton and Hove City Council said they pay for security guards to man the dedicated Horsdean facility to prevent travellers from antisocial behaviour.

The local authority, which must cut its 2011/12 budget by £34 million, claims it was forced into the move after travellers racked up bills of tens of thousands of pounds damaging the site on the outskirts of the city.

It is a portion of nearly £250,000 that has been spent on monitoring and clearing up after the traveller communities in the city in the past 12 months.