Council workers were spotted watering flowerbeds with a hose in the middle of a drought - but revealed it was from a non-mains source.

Onlookers were shocked to see men in Brighton and Hove City Council uniforms watering plants with jets at the Old Steine in Brighton yesterday.

There is a Sussex-wide drought and a ban on hoses being used to water gardens and wash cars, though high-pressure hoses, which is what the council was using, are exempt from restrictions.

A council spokesman said: "We are only watering bedding plants there to establish them for a couple of weeks.

"Water used at this spot and on flower beds along the Old Steine and Victoria Gardens is untreated, undrinkable and from a non-mains source - an underground stream.

"We have a licence for this from the Environment Agency.

"The council is keeping its use of water to a minimum and will strictly adhere to any current or future restrictions."

On Wednesday The Argus reported how residents at Chelwood Close, Brighton, were appalled to see roofs of council flat blocks being cleaned with thousands of litres of water through high-pressure jets.

The council later said it would stop using the jets, which use about a thousand litres of water an hour.