DETECTIVES have arrested two members of staff at Brighton and Hove City Council’s waste collection department on suspicion of fraud.

The two Cityclean workers have been interviewed over the allegations and released but remain under investigation.

One, a 36-year-old Peacehaven man, was arrested on April 17 on suspicion of fraud by false representation.

A 39-year-old man, also from Peacehaven, was arrested on April 30 on suspicion of fraud by abuse of position.

A city council spokesman said: “To protect confidentiality and to ensure all due process is fair, we cannot currently provide any information on this, but as soon as is possible and appropriate, we will provide any details that we can.”

As previously reported by The Argus, an audit has been ongoing at the council’s Cityclean depot in Hollingdean for several months.

In January this newspaper revealed that two senior members of staff at the depot had been suspended by the council.

And last week trade union the GMB, which represents Cityclean workers, warned that Brighton’s refuse collectors and street sweepers were now “very likely” to go on strike this summer.

Tension between union reps and council bosses has been rising in recent months over alleged “anti-trade union attacks” by the council.

They say the council has been compiling “secret dossiers” on union members – an allegation the council denies.

A previous ballot of members showed nearly 92 per cent favoured taking industrial action.

A final ballot on strike action opens on Monday and the result will be announced on June 17.

Union officials declined to comment on the arrests.

But branch secretary Mark Turner said the union’s current dispute with the council leadership was “completely unrelated”.

In September a new director was brought in on £80,000 a year to transform Cityclean’s fortunes.

Rachel Chasseaud vowed to clean up the city and said: “There’s no denying these have been very challenging times.”

This followed a huge number of complaints last summer about the state of the streets and regular missed bin collections.

The council previously said bad parking by residents, a shortage of drivers and bin lorries overheating in the sun were to blame.