Given the mess that's built up around the city in the short time the bin strike has been happening, I'm sure most of Brighton and Hove will be as relieved as I am that the talks have today brought about a suspension of the strike - at least for now. Hopefully, during this suspension, an agreement can be reached that deals properly with the unfair pay cuts faced by some GMB members.

But the issue has raised some fundamental questions over the local Tory administration's grip on events. Mary Mears and her colleagues appear to have buried their heads in the sand throughout the dispute - where have they been? - leaving council officers to deal with the onslaught of calls. Greens have worked hard to enable conflict resolution - sadly the same can't be said of the Adminstration leadership. Frankly their approach has has shambolic and a major let down to the city as a whole - they've done themselves , and the wider Tory image, no favours.

Perhaps more crucially, however, the row has exposed a pretty unfair pay difference between the council's top earners and those on low incomes. The Tory-led council should now surely be working towards re-addressing the balance and to introduce fairness into the pay of all council staff in order to reduce the gap.