Kemp Town street strewn with rubbish (From The Argus)

Kemp Town street strewn with rubbish

12:29pm Thursday 19th June 2008 in Search By Ruth Lumley

This is the scene in a Brighton street blighted by rubbish.

Residents living and working in George Street, Kemp Town, were confronted with bin bags which had been torn open and household waste which covered the pavement.

Bin bags which are left out in the street are usually attacked by seagulls every week but residents believe people making their way home from pubs in the area on Monday night stomped the rubbish into the pavement and threw it down the road.

Mike Stobart, who owns Yummy Stuff which sells organic and local food, said: "It looked like people had been going down the road, tipping the bags out and dancing all over it."

Residents, business owners and the local street cleaner are asking for an alternative rubbish collection to be put in place to tackle the growing problem.

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman said the problem highlighted why they were considering introducing communal bins in parts of the city.

Mr Stobart said: "The street cleaner is very conscientious and does a good job but it is a mess.

"One of the guys down the road who owns a grooming salon has made regular complaints to Brighton and Hove City Council and really I guess the answer is to have communal bins or better bins bags. The council does not seem to do anything about it."

He said there were squashed tomatoes and spilt milk everywhere and warned someone could slip.

David Stock, who lives in George Street, said the rubbish was meant to be collected at 8am every day but the street was always a mess by that time. He said: "There are some communal bins in St James's Street but there should be some sort of communal bin here. But no one wants it outside their house and the street is narrow."

A council spokeswoman said: "This is exactly why we are proposing to introduce communal bins in George Street and other areas of the city.

"We have been consulting with residents about rolling this service out to another 23,000 properties in the city centre that potentially suffer from similar problems. Keeping the streets clean and providing proper waste storage for residents is one of our top priorities.

"Our street cleaners acted quickly and efficiently and the mess was cleared within the hour but prevention is better than cure and we feel confident communal bins could be the best way forward."