Hundreds of homeowners have vowed to take direct action to rid their streets of wheelie bins.

A battle plan being drawn up to take on Brighton and Hove City Council over the controversial bins - widely despised in some areas of the city - could include lining them up outside the Royal Pavilion.

Almost every one of the 500 members of the public who packed a meeting in Preston Park last night agreed on direct action, letters and petitions and about three quarters said they were willing to dump their bins for good.

The council introduced the green wheelie bins as a replacement for black sacks to improve efficiency and recycling earlier this month.

Homeowners say the bins are unsightly and clutter the streets, causing problems for disabled people and those with children in pushchairs.

They worry their cars could get damaged because of high winds and the steep hills they live on.

Derek Burns, who chaired the meeting, said: "It is clear the council holds most of the cards and can leave our rubbish on our doorsteps. Our anger is not enough - we have to get organised."

One suggestion was to dump the bins on a traffic island in Stanford Avenue to create a landmark for people entering the city.

Residents were told by Jenny Rowlands, the council's director of environment, that wheelie bins were not subject to planning regulations.

Dates for possible protests were discussed and included April 28 when the full council meets and May 26 when there is an environmental committee meeting.

Emma Hayes, of Sandgate Road, said: "A lot of people here are very angry. The council said they are doing this to increase recycling but no one has ever come to my door and asked me what I think.

"I haven't seen any leaflets or had any feedback on how much rubbish is taken. Recycling is a serious issue and the council should not be trying to tie it in with these plastic bins. Let's walk our wheelie bins down to the pavilion, line them up outside and see if the council minds them being there as they say they're so inoffensive outside our own houses."

The chairman asked for volunteers to form a steering group and act as road representatives to plan direct action.

Gill Mitchell, environment committee chairwoman, attended the meeting with Gillian Marston, assistant director of the council's in-house cleansing department Cityclean, and Jenny Rowlands to answer questions and explain why the council introduced the bins. As they spoke the audience shouted "pavements are for people" and "no compromise".

Coun Mitchell said Brighton and Hove's landfill capacity will be full by 2008 when rubbish may have to be transported as far as Bedford.

Wheelie bins save the council £450,000 a year because it needs fewer binmen. The savings are invested in recycling.

Ms Marston said the bins complied with four criteria set down by the council to improve the recycling rate and street cleanliness, reduce employee accidents and collect rubbish efficiently.

She said they stopped binmen being exposed to injury from lifting heavy bags and cutting themselves on sharp objects.

The Argus reported last month that injuries to binmen from discarded needles had more than halved since wheelie bins came in.

Coun Mitchell asked residents to comply with the scheme for three months when there will be a review. She agreed to consider a voluntary scheme where homeowners put out one sack of rubbish and one sack of recyclables each week.

She said: "I want to get a system in place for Preston Park that doesn't upset everybody and achieves our four criteria. I would like to get a review group involving residents so we can look at roads where there's disquiet."

If residents refuse to use the bins their rubbish will not be collected.

Ward councillors are backing the residents and were disappointed there had been no consultation.