When their houses were built 50 years ago, there was an access road at the back for the collection of rubbish.

Decades later, home owners in Stonery Road, Portslade, are being told to put their waste at the front of their houses in wheelie bins they will have to drag up a flight of steps.

The new containers were delivered to the homes only on Thursday but already a rebellion is gathering pace among householders.

Their homes were built on a hill in the Forties but a level road was created behind them which dustcarts have collected household waste from ever since.

Mother-of-two Kate Bailey, 34, said: "These houses were built in the Forties and for the past 50 years it has been good enough for the dustmen to come along the back access road and collect our bags.

"Every bin day, everyone would open their back gates and put out their bags. That's what the road was designed for."

Brighton and Hove City Council's in-house refuse service Cityclean has delivered the wheelie bins with instructions that they must be left at the front of the homes, not on the access road.

This means the full bins have to be pulled up steps to pavement level.

Mrs Bailey, who has two sons, Ryan, five, and Kailan, four, said it was difficult enough carrying a double buggy up the steps when the children were small.

She said: "I used to collapse it at the top of the steps and carry it down. I'm going to find it hard to haul a full bin up there. What about my neighbours who are in their 80s?

"I am all for recycling and I'm not against the wheelie bins if we could put them out the back on to the access road. There's been no consideration."

Mrs Bailey's husband Martin believes getting the residents to take the bins out themselves is a cash-saving move.

Previously Cityclean had five men on each dustcart. Now there are three.

He said: "Next we will be asked to attach the bin to the back of the lorry ourselves so they can have a one-man crew.

"This is some sort of revenue-saving action by getting the public to do some of the work."

Mr and Mrs Bailey fear the council could be leaving itself liable to insurance claims by people carrying heavy bins from unsuitable properties.

Mr Bailey, who works at local schools, said: "I know about health and safety and lifting and handling. Are they going to give residents courses?"

Tim Moore, head of operations at Cityclean, visited Stonery Road to see for himself.

He said: "Stonery Road access road is very narrow and the dustcart can just about get through. If you had wheeled bins down there it wouldn't be able to.

"Most of the residents have them out the front on the pavement where there is space to get past. We use the same principle with the wheeled bins as with litter bins. There needs to be one metre of space. If it had been too narrow we would have said it was too narrow."

Mr Moore said people who were unable to move their wheeled bins would have assisted collection and would not have to undergo medical checks to be eligible.

He said the elderly, disabled, pregnant women and any other residents who could not move their own wheeled bin could request assisted collection.