A community has started playing a “game of chess” with communal bins to get the black skips away from their front doors.

Residents, traders, delivery drivers and tradesmen have taken matters into their own hands by shunting the new 5ft tall bins around the bohemian North Laine area.

They are unhappy at having to put up with the obstruction, smell and clanging of metal lids.

But each shift has caused new problems for a different set of people.

In one case, in Kensington Place, one of the bins has been repeatedly shoved between the outside of a shop and a parking bay in front of a neighbouring house, in Kensington Place, as all those involved refuse to put up with the eyesore.

Peter Crowhurst, chairman of the North Laine Community Association, said: "It has certainly been divisive and it shouldn't need to be.

"A lot of people in the area were in favour of the communal bins being brought in because we have had significant problems with rubbish in the past, but the way they have been placed has created a lot of issues.

"There is a strong sense of community here, it's a shame to see that harmed."

Some bins have been in front of windows and doors, while others have obstructed pavements and parking bays.

Jeff Scott, a resident in Tidy Street, said: "They are constantly being shifted. It's like a game of chess with people working out where to move them next."

The noise of the bins has become a major problem, with lids constantly clanging as people dump their rubbish and new daily collections being made by refuse trucks, often before 7am.

Mr Scott said: "People are being woken by it every day."

Mr Crowhurst and local councillor Ian Davey have urged Brighton and Hove City Council to take a new look at the locations of the bins, which it introduced in June.

It installed 35 of the skips in North Laine as part of the programme to bring them in across the city. Fewer refuse workers are needed to empty the bins, which have been designed to stop black bags being ripped open by seagulls and foxes.

Coun Davey said it was important for none of them to be directly outside people's homes.

At least 11 of the North Laine bins are no longer at the location originally identified by the council.

Peter Leafe discovered one outside his shop in Gloucester Road this week.

He said: "The council needs to have another consultation and work out where they can go that won't cause problems, otherwise they will keep getting moved. At the moment I have one outside my shop which I was never consulted on and it is putting people off coming in."

A council spokeswoman said it would respond to the North Laine Community Association.

She said: "If residents have alternative locations that they prefer we are more than happy to make adjustments as long as this is not to the detriment of another resident.”

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