CCTV cameras could be introduced in some of the city’s most historic and expensive squares in a bid to stop new communal bins becoming a hotspot for flytippers.

Councillors have voted to install the new communal bins into three Regency squares in the city because of health and safety concerns for binmen collecting from basement coal stores.

The proposals have long been resisted by residents living in the squares who have been critical of the council’s approach in forcing through the changes.

Ian Chaplin, from the Friends of Brunswick Square and Terrace, said the consultation had been "at best opaque and at worst Machiavellian" with the council treating residents as an "irritation".

The council announced last month it would be installing CCTV at flytipping hotspots, and particularly next to communal bins, which would be funded by littering fines.

A decision on introducing communal bins to Palmeria, Regency and Sussex squares as well as the equally sought-after Lewes Crescent, Arundel, Adelaide and Chichester terraces, was deferred in 2009.

A public consultation this summer on the plans was extended to 42 days after resident and Green ward councillors objected to it being held during the summer holidays when residents might be away.

Resident requests for underground bins have been ruled out because of cost and seagull proof bags because trials of Binvelopes elsewhere in the city have proved unsuccessful.

Introducing communal bins to the historic squares, as well as to Viaduct Road, Beaconsfield Road and Westbourne Street, will cost the council around £70,000 with refuse bins collected everyday and recycling three times a week.

Residents opted for brushed thatched bins which council officers said were best designed to prevent seagulls "dive bombing" into bins to retrieve food.

Conservative Joe Miller said: "Residents raised concerns about flytipping and I wondered whether it could be agreed in principle if possible for CCTV at communal because of their historic importance whether it would be suitable for these undercover CCTV cameras because its even more important in conservation areas."

The Rottingdean Coastal councillor said he accepted health and safety concerns about accessing the basements having fallen down one himself while election campaigning.

Green Louisa Greenbaum said: "Communal bins are very Marmite but we are choosing between two options that are not ideal.

"I think communal bins will be an improvement but with the level of concern in the consultation we need to address those concerns and assure residents they will be heard and so they can see that we are doing something about it."