Historic Rottingdean is living up to its name as bin men struggle to cope with a rising tide of rubbish.

A shake-up of collection routes has left the village lumped in with Saltdean, Ovingdean and parts of Woodingdean on one of the biggest rounds in the city.

By the time the dustbin lorry arrives in the seafront village its 14-ton capacity has often already been reached.

Cityclean has put a specialised truck and some of its most experienced crew on the route, but teams say they have to head out to landfill tips at Beddingham, near Lewes, or Small Dole, near Henfield, to empty the load - leaving little time to complete the run.

Now the council, unions and binmen are involved in talks to make bin collection more efficient.

Rottingdean Tory councillor David Smith told the council meeting one Rottingdean round was "totally unacceptable."

He said many collections were missed with some properties in the Cranleigh Avenue and Grand Crescent only getting a collection once a month.

Coun Smith said: "Black sacks are left out and attacked by seagulls, causing litter problems.

"The wrath of these high council-tax paying residents is growing.

"Many of them without children say the only frontline service they get for their tax is rubbish collection and when this does not happen they wonder what they are paying their council tax for."

Environment councillor Gill Mitchell admitted there had been problems and said rounds were being changed to make improvements.

It was hoped they would be in place by the middle of next month.

Coun Smith is also suggesting that not all members of the crews go with the vehicle on its trips to the tips and should carry on their collections.

Mark Turner of GMB union said: "The vehicle for Rottingdean is one of three extra large vehicles operated by Cityclean.

"There have been problems completing the rounds because of the time it takes for the vehicle to get to and from the tips and we are in discussions to resolve this.

"This is a large vehicle and it also gets held up by the way people park.

"Until we get a waste transfer depot at the Hollingdean depot in Brighton, vehicles will have to continue to make their trips the landfill sites, wasting collection times."

Two months ago the Rottingdean dustcart got stuck in Rottingdean High Street while trying to manouevre out of Nevill Road.

Rottingdean was named after a Saxon called Rota who settled in the area between 450 and 500 AD.