IT'S hard for drivers to tell when Gladstone Road in Portslade becomes Gardner Road in Fishersgate.

But residents know the difference when it comes to paying their council tax.

People on Adur Council's side of the border pay £101 more for a typical Band D property than those on the Brighton and Hove side.

Local Government Minister Hilary Armstrong highlighted the difference when shejoined Brighton and Hove's Labour council leader Lord Bassam and Mike Willson, leader of the Labour group in Adur, at the boundary today.

Ms Armstrong said: "High-profile, modernising councils like Brighton and Hove stand in sharp contrast to their Tory and Lib Dem neighbours."

Coun Willson said Labour aimed to become the largest party on Lib Dem-run Adur.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.