Brighton and Hove City Council could face legal action as it attempts to find a company to take on its refuse collection contract.

Lawyers acting for the GMB union have written to the authority's chief executive questioning the legality of the tendering process.

The council chose contractor Serviceteam as preferred bidder for the refuse collection and street cleaning contract in August.

The Serviceteam deal has still not been finalised and council leader Ken Bodfish was due to make a statement on the negotiations today.

Today's scheduled meeting of the council's senior policy making committee, the body that would agree the deal, has been postponed until next week.

The new operator had to be recruited quickly after Sita was sacked from its £6.7 million contract in June.

Sita, which was scheduled to finish on September 14, has had its deadline extended twice, and is due to finish on October 14.

The GMB, which represents most of the 252-strong workforce, said it was concerned other waste firms had been excluded from bidding to take mover from Sita.

GMB organiser Gary Smith said: "We think the procurement process is questionable. It is dubious and therefore it is potentially open to legal challenge.

"We do not believe deals being done behind closed doors is in the best interest of the service or our members."

Mr Bodfish said the framework of the deal was in place.

He said: "We are now in the final stages of a series of complex decisions. This process would normally take around 12 months but we are having to do this in three months."

Paul Elgood, leader of the council's Lib Dem group, said: "They need to be one thousand per cent sure this is legally sustainable or the credibility of the authority will be in question."

Conservative councillor Jenny Langston said: "As I understand it the contract is going to come in a couple of million pounds over the amount they have budgeted for.

"The council hasn't got the money so it will have to come from cuts to other services or by putting up council tax by a huge amount."