Council officials are working on plans to keep Brighton and Hove’s streets clean if the city’s binmen strike.

Brighton and Hove City Council said it will try to keep services running smoothly if staff at the Hollingdean depot vote to walk out.

Last night the GMB warned the Green-led administration that it risked acting illegally if it tried to break a strike, and accused council leader Jason Kitcat of going into “panic mode” over fears that industrial action by Cityclean workers could make the city streets uninhabitable in days.

It said it was very confident that its members would vote to take strike action over proposed cuts to pay when the votes are counted on Friday.

The union said it had been notified that three vehicles had been moved from the Hollingdean depot to a site at Hove Park so they could be used by agency workers.

Rob Macey, the GMB’s senior organiser for legal services at the council, said: “We have received indications that the council is planning to engage agency workers and contractors to cover the duties of our members if they take lawful industrial action.

“Not only would such plans be unlawful, but they would also be shocking from a council run by the Green Party, which professes to support workers’ rights.

“We have nowwritten to Jason Kitcat to ask him to confirm if the council is making plans to replace striking workers with agency or contractor labour, and to warn him that such practices are unlawful.”

Brighton and Hove chief executive Penny Thompson said: “The council is considering what contingencies it has, within employment legislation, to try to minimise levels of disruption to residents.

“We will be continuing to work hard with our union colleagues and staff to try to get services back to normal.

“In the meantime we are still experiencing some targeted disruption to our refuse and recycling service and I’m very sorry for any inconvenience caused by this.”

Coun Theobald, the leader of the Conservative group on the council, said: “I think that residents would expect their council to have contingency plans in place to ensure that rubbish is not left piling up on the streets.”