A top councillor says many people coming to Sussex for jobs and housing should stay away.

Tory councillor Geoffrey Theobald, opposition leader on Brighton and Hove City Council, said the authority was trying to house as many vulnerable adults and young people as it could.

He said: "There is a limit to the number of housing units and employment opportunities that can be found in a city constrained by the sea and the Downs where unemployment is above the regional average.

"The Government and the council should be doing more to make this known and to encourage those who have travelled here, or are thinking of doing so, to return or remain in their own areas.

"Alternatively they could travel to those cities and towns where accommodation is more readily available."

Coun Theobald told the Brighton and Hove Private Sector Housing Forum the withdrawal of private sector housing had contributed to the increase in homelessness.

He said landlords were less willing to let property to housing benefit claimants, partly because of frequent changes to the rules.

He said: "Labour's regulation overload means landlords are virtually guaranteed to lose money if they let to housing benefit claimants."