More than a hundred people have vowed to boycott a communal bins scheme.

Many say they will refuse to use the new rubbish collection system after Brighton and Hove City Council announced plans to set up a trial of the bins in 30 city streets.

The council faces a protest against the plans with many campaigners saying it pushed through the 12-month trial with hardly any public consultation.

Under the scheme, household collections will stop in the 30 streets in the city next month and residents will instead have to put their rubbish in communal bins.

Residents say they will get hundreds of fellow opponents to take part in a picket of Hove Town Hall before a meeting on January 22, when councillors are expected to discuss the plans.

If they are ignored and the trial goes ahead, residents said they will not co-operate.

Keep Clear bays have already been painted in the roads to make space for the bins but residents say the industrial-sized containers will be a blot on their neighbourhoods and could damage house prices.

More than 100 held a meeting on Friday to discuss how to fight the scheme.

Some said they paid the top rate of council tax and the changes were a way of creating a reduced service and a cost cutting measure.

Members of the People's Parking Protest, who joined the meeting, said the communal bins would take away parking spaces.

Carol Dyhouse, of Victoria Road, who acted as chairman of the meeting, said: "I think the council is going to live to regret this plan."

Tony Davies, 27, of Vernon Terrace, woke up last week to find a box marked "KEEP CLEAR" on the road outside his flat on Vernon Terrace.

Mr Davies, a media company director, said: "I think it will be cataclysmic. We have already seen what can happen with these bins from the trial they did about two years ago on Albert Road.

"The bins descended into a disgusting state."

Mr Davies said: "We are in beautiful Regency surroundings which will be spoiled by these ugly bins.

"There are other negative factors like parking, hygiene and fly tipping, which I think will become a huge problem."

Film producer Alex O'Neal, 34, who lives in a basement flat in Compton Avenue, said: "The council is trying to fix a problem which doesn't exist.

"Because the front room is my bedroom, every morning I will wake up, draw the curtains and be greeted with the sight of a big, ugly bin. It will affect my privacy as well as destroy the view."

Neighbour Sue Beach, 40, who works in a bank, said: "We have had no consultation on this." Ms Beach also feels the four bins allocated for the road is insufficient. She said: "There are 180 households in this street and that number of bins just won't be enough."

Rita Swaffield, 40, of Compton Avenue, said: "I think this has been handled appallingly by the council. We have just been told this is happening and there has been no opportunity for discussion."

People living in Albert Road, where there is little room to safely store rubbish bags, agree a new arrangement needs to be found but were unhappy about communal bins.

Student Jasmine Knapp, 27, said: "I think all the rubbish will spill over unless the collection is guaranteed every other day."

Boyfriend Simon Watkins, 27, a painter and decorator, was one of the few residents to give the changes a cautious welcome.

He said: "If the council puts in a big enough bin and picks it up regularly then it should be ok."

Councillor Gill Mitchell, chairman of the environment committee, which has overseen the scheme, denied the council had failed to consult residents.

She admitted discussions were continuing and the streets on which the new bins will be introduced have yet to be identified.

Coun Mitchell said: "We have gone back and looked at the streets where there has been the most number of points raised and we are having a rethink about other forms of containerisation."

A delay to the bin trial could be a possibility, Coun Mitchell added.

Streets under consideration for the trial are Albert Road, Alexandra Villas, Alfred Road, Bath Street, Bedford Place, Belvedere Terrace, Brunswick Place, Brunswick Road, Buckingham Road, Cambridge Road, Clifton Road, Compton Avenue, Denmark Terrace, Farm Road, Goldsmid Road, Lansdowne Street, Leopold Road, Montpelier Crescent, Montpelier Road, Norfolk Road, Norfolk Terrace, Oriental Place, Powis Road, Powis Villas, Sillwood Street, St Michaels Place, Vernon Terrace, Victoria Road, Victoria Street, Western Street and York Road.