Residents have been left living next to a rubbish tip for five weeks as Brighton and Hove's uncollected trash saga continues.

Flies and maggots have been festering among black bags left lying outside Carlton Court in Portslade, causing health and safety concerns for residents.

Residents reacted in disbelief when told rubbish was not being collected because scaffolding was erected around the flats and binmen could not operate there for "health and safety reasons".

Gillian Chamberlain, a 34-year-old mother of two young children, said residents were furious.

She said: "It is ironic. They are worried about their health and safety but have put ours at risk.

"We haven't had a collection now for almost five weeks and it is not just rubbish from one household we are talking about, it is 11.

"There was scaffolding around the flats before the collection day changed and our rubbish was being collected as normal.

"They say they can't get the wheelie bins down there.

"I don't know if the area has shrunk all of a sudden or something but they didn't seem to have any problem before. There are lots of ways round it.

"Last week they promised me they would send out a man with a truck that could pick up the rubbish but he never came.

"Another time they told me they would do it within 48 hours. I'm still waiting."

A council spokeswoman apologised to residents and promised the rubbish would be picked up within hours.

She said: "We would like to apologise and thank the residents for their patience. We are investigating why there has been a problem with collections there and the access will be looked at by a health and safety officer.

"From now, the rubbish will be collected weekly as normal."

The collection problems are just the latest in a long line of complaints from residents, many of whom have not had their rubbish collected for weeks since collection times and routes were altered.