Council Tax payers must make up £27 million shortfall

For some average Band-D homeowners the tax bill will rocket to 1,200 - an increase of some 4 a week on this year's payment.

New Government policies which have seen money redirected to deprived areas in the north mean residents must either swallow massive increases or accept swingeing cuts to services.

East Sussex is one of the biggest losers nationally, with a settlement of an extra 10million.

Councillors say the very minimum needed to maintain core services at current levels is 37million.

The county council portion makes up some 85 per cent of the overall bill in Bexhill, where residents are also facing a possible 14 per cent increase in the Rother District Council precept.

Deputy East Sussex County Council (ESCC) leader Daphne Bagshaw, who is responsible for corporate resources, said: "This is an incredibly complex settlement and very hard to understand.

"It's remarkable, if one looks at the shift in funding, to see that the south east suffers huge funding losses while the west and east midlands and the north generally seem to be big beneficiaries. I wonder why this is?"

ESCC leader Peter Jones added: "It's surely bizarre to take money from one of the poorest counties in England in terms of Gross Domestic Product and force massive council tax increases one a community with some of the lowest earnings per head in the country.

"We also have the highest proportion of elderly people in the country, many of whom are on low fixed incomes.

"This is wholly at odds with the Government's stated intentions to introduce a fairer funding system for local government.

"What's fair about this?"