A campaign group fighting to keep wheelie bins from their streets is carrying out a survey of thousands of homes in their community.

More than 3,000 properties have been sent a leaflet asking if they would rather have a plastic bag refuse collection service than the green wheelie bins which a council want them to use.

Brighton and Hove City Council rolled out wheelie bins across the Preston Park area of Brighton in March, which led to a public backlash. Residents in the usually sedate part of the city had a public hanging of one of the bins daubed in paint with the words: Send the bins back.

Residents feared they would wreck the aesthetics of their streets because many homes do not have access to their rear gardens and would have to leave them on the streets full time, creating a nuisance and attracting vandals.

They formed the Pavements for People campaign and held a public meeting in April which attracted more than 400. The organisation has now set up a steering group which is due to meet the council on Wednesday, June 8, with the deadline for the return of the survey on Friday, June 5.

Pavements for People wants Cityclean, the council's in-house refuse service, to run a bag collection scheme for residents who agree to limit the number of bags they use to the same volume as a wheelie bin equivalent and recycle as much as possible.

Professor James Barlow, who is a member of the steering group, said: "The survey is designed to find out how many people are prepared to take up the alternative bag scheme."

Prof Barlow, who has lived in Havelock Road for 17 years, said the council should have carried out consultation before it decided to roll-out wheelie bins.

Prof Barlow said the council had agreed to consider the bag option and claimed it was a partial victory.

However, a Brighton and Hove City Council spokeswoman said the council had not agreed to give people in Preston Park sacks instead of wheelie bins.

She added: "The council are working with the public to come up with the best solution and refuse sacks are one of several ideas that are being discussed at the moment. However it's still just an idea, nothing has been decided yet."