Brighton and Hove is well-known as Britain's mecca for the gay community.

Its annual Pride event, extensive healthcare for people affected by HIV/Aids and its tolerant atmosphere have all made the towns the place to be if you're a gay man or a lesbian.

But, despite the positive role the community plays in the towns and the boost the pink pound gives to the economy, very little is known by local authorities of the needs of the estimated 20,000 to 30,000 gays and lesbians in the towns.

The Count Me In survey has been launched to try and address the problem and provide Brighton and Hove Council and East Sussex, Brighton and Hove Health Authority with a better understanding of the community.

Launched earlier this month at Pride, it contains 158 questions about the ethnicity, personal habits and lifestyle of gays and lesbians with special sections for women and transgendered people.

The £16,000 project is being funded by the council and health authority and has involved about 25 gay and lesbian groups.

Paul Martin, who works for the authority, said: "The idea for doing the survey has been floating around for a couple of years because there has been very little specific information on the needs of gay men.

"In areas like drugs, alcohol, mental health, relationships and housing we know practically nothing and other community organisations have identified this problem as well."

There had been talk from a number of small gay and lesbian groups of compiling their own surveys but now all are involved in pooling time and resources to make the new venture a success.

Mr Martin added: "Everyone has been wanting to do a survey so a number of organisations said 'Why don't we pool our resources and put all questions in one big survey rather than a whole range of little ones and all of us competing?'

"In mainstream surveys like those done by the council in Brighton and Hove News they never ask the sexual orientation of respondents.

"While we know there's a large gay and lesbian population in Brighton and Hove we don't know enough about them. The problem is we won't know about them unless this survey is done.

"This is the largest project of its kind to be undertaken locally. We hope to reach well over 1,000 lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered people through the survey alone.

"This is an incredibly important opportunity for ordinary lesbians and gay men throughout the towns to tell us what they think and what they want."

Count Me In has been commissioned by the Brighton and Hove Regeneration Partnership to identify the needs and priorities of residents.

Once the results have been compiled they will be included in an overall regeneration strategy for the towns which is expected to attract Government funding.

Count Me In has its own steering group with representatives from Brighton Lesbian and Gay Switchboard, the Terrence Higgins Trust South, the council and health authority and Gay and Lesbian Arts and Media (Glam).

Joan Beveridge, Glam's project director, said one of the aims of the survey was to focus more attention on lesbians who she feels have been left out of the spotlight.

This is because of the publicity surrounding HIV and Aids which have hit the gay male population the hardest.

She said: "This is all about trying to map out a baseline because we can't start to identify people's needs until we know what those needs are.

"As a result of HIV and Aids, gay men's health matters have been highlighted but nothing has been done to address lesbian health needs.

"Within Brighton and Hove the lesbian community is being hugely ignored.

"Our first target is a community health worker for the lesbian population to build the community up. It has been done in Manchester with a lot of success."

Linda Pointing, from Count Me In, said: "Lesbians and gay men make up a large percentage of the Brighton and Hove population, yet our views are rarely taken into account when planning local services.

"Count Me In aims to give lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered people a real say in the life of Brighton and Hove. This time our views will count."

Questionnaires are available from gay and lesbian pubs, clubs, businesses and from council libraries and offices.

The closing date for them to be completed is the end of September when the results will be studied by researchers from Southampton University. The findings will be published in November or December.

The questionnaire is available by calling 01273 684569.