Council bosses have been accused of creating an eyesore by surrounding a seafront bandstand with 8ft screens.

Tourists were angered to see canvas put around Eastbourne's bandstand to stop passers-by getting free peeks at events.

Defiant Eastbourne borough councillors voted to keep the canvas in place until the end of the concert season in September.

Liberal Democrat Mike Thompson put forward a motion to have the screens removed, saying they were "detrimental to the council's tourist economy".

But the Tory-led council rejected the motion by 14 votes to 11.

Councillor Thompson said: "Almost everyone agreed the screens should come down but then voted against it.

"We have advertisements in the London Underground showing our bandstand and they don't show the screens. It looks like a building site. It makes no sense. By September, the concerts will be done and so will the damage to the town.

"What are they going to hide next? Why don't they cover the carpet gardens and charge people to see them? The residents and visitors to Eastbourne deserve better than this. We have the nicest seafront in the South and they do this."

Councillor David Elkin, said: "When the bandstand was built in the Thirties it was a way of generating money for the town but it has never paid for itself. In these more challenging times we had to find ways of changing that.

"The screens are pretty horrible but they are cost effective. It seems to be working but we won't be putting them up again because we have had lots of other good ideas from the public. Even so, it is a trial that must be seen through to September."