Brighton council hires crews to clear rubbish

Overflowing rubbish on the streets of Brighton and Hove could be seen throughout the city during the seven-day strike by refuse and recycling workers

Agency crews and vehicles have been hired to help clean up Brighton and Hove following last week's seven-day strike by refuse and recycling workers.

GMB union members were due to take more action from Monday over plans to cut pay but this was suspended on Friday pending consideration of a new offer.

Brighton and Hove City Council said staff had since been working hard to clean the city as quickly as possible.

"But it will take a little while as there is a lot of rubbish," it said.

Additional communal bin lorries, street cleaning and refuse crews have been out to help clear the backlog.

Collection day

The council said as communal bins were normally emptied three times a week, the build up of rubbish around them was more significant than in areas with weekly refuse collection.

Residents who normally receive a weekly refuse collection have been asked to put their bin out on the scheduled collection day.

Those with weekly or fortnightly recycling collection should also put black boxes out on the next scheduled collection day.

In a statement, the council said: "We'll clear up as quickly as we can but at this stage we cannot guarantee we will carry out all collections on the scheduled days due to the backlog of rubbish and recycling."

Household waste and recycling centres are also operating extended opening hours until 30 June.

The council thanked residents and businesses for their patience during the disruption and said it was doing everything it could to clear up the rubbish quickly.