RESIDENTS have rejoiced after a stinking bin full of rubbish was cleared from a council block forecourt after a year.

In Wednesday’s paper we told how retired orthopaedic technician Stephen Gardner, 68, has complained to bin men and the council about the situation.

He said he and his fellow residents of Highleigh, in Grove Hill just off Grand Parade, were “up in arms” over the “stinking” bin, which fell off a lorry while being picked up last summer and has been left out ever since.

It was removed by City Clean staff at 3pm on Thursday.

Yesterday Mr Gardner said: “It shouldn’t have taken so long but everybody’s very pleased it’s gone.

“I’d like to thank The Argus. It’s a sad situation that it only got solved after the paper got involved - I really think otherwise it’d still be there next summer.”

Queens Park ward councillor Adrian Morris said he had been informed the matter had been dealt with.

He wrote: “Please remember that if a resident contacts any councillor first we can react quickly and get issues resolved.

“We also have many contacts on the council who we were work with on a daily basis. That also includes all emergency services.”

This is the fourth time in a month Brighton and Hove City Council has responded swiftly to a matter raised by The Argus.

Editor Arron Hendy said: “It’s great to see the council being so responsive and we’d like to thank them for acting so quickly on matters of concern to Argus readers.”

Several weeks ago the council found space for children who had missed out on a place at either Dorothy Stringer or Varndean School. After initially saying temporary classrooms would be impossible to build before September, the council came to a cross-party agreement after The Argus contacted opposition councillors over the issue.

Last week incoming council leader Councillor Daniel Yates tweeted after a series of Argus articles on the state of the city’s public toilets: “I’ve just been for a sniff around pavilion gardens public toilets.

“Clearly a big investment required to bring them up to modern standards. But despite their failings I found clean toilets.”

Days later, the council announced a £1million investment to renovate public lavatories.

And last week councillor Yates had recycling bins placed in the foyer of Hove Town Hall after The Argus reported Green Party councillors were critical of bins’ availability.