Mountains of rubbish are being left to rot with bins remaining unemptied for weeks.

Residents in Marine Square, Brighton, say they have endured piles of stinking and rotting rubbish since Brighton and Hove City Council assigned new routes to refuse collectors at the end of July.

The council has pleaded with residents to be patient while problems are sorted out.

However, Angela Batchelor, 49, of Church Road, Hove, said she is fed up waiting because her refuse has not been collected since the council took control on July 29.

Many of her neighbours have been waiting for rubbish bags to be collected for a fortnight.

Their complaints are the latest in a steady stream to the city council during the last few weeks.

Despite making nine phone calls to the council and pleading for more than 30 rubbish bags to be taken away, Mrs Batchelor said her plight has been ignored.

She said: "It makes me so angry.

"I have called and called the council and each time they say they will do something but never do.

"I am at the end of my tether.

"I only found out my official collection day last Wednesday - before then I had heard nothing from the council about when my bins should be emptied each week.

"It's incredibly frustrating."

At least 20 of her neighbours have suffered similar problems.

Sarah Hodges, of Marine Square, has 30 bin bags lying outside her front door.

She said: "I rang the council three times last week to find out when the rubbish would be collected and I got a different story every time.

"At first they said the bin lorry had broken down and they would work extra hours to clear the backlog.

"The next time they said they thought the street had been missed and said they would add it to their emergency list.

"When they still hadn't cleared it the next day I rang back and was told it would be done at the weekend. But it's still there.

"I can't get out of my front door."

A spokeswoman for Brighton and Hove City Council said: "All of the households where rubbish has not been collected are being systematically added to the rota.

"It may be that in some cases refuse collectors are finding it difficult to reach the houses and the rubbish or that streets are not clear on maps."

She said she hoped the problems would be resolved in the next few days.