CITY councillors are threatening a major revolt over the refusal to back down on a key element of the city's controversial waste collection strategy.

A council vote on the introduction of compulsory wheelie bins for the majority of Oxford residents looks likely to be ignored by the ruling Liberal Democrat group this Monday.

Amid claims of "undemocratic behaviour" a vote of no confidence in Jean Fooks, executive member for a cleaner city, is now being considered The executive is set to decide that the issue is an "operational" matter and not political, with its members acutely aware that scrapping compulsory wheelie bins could put at risk the city's whole waste strategy, centring on fortnightly collections.

Thousands of wheelie bins will be delivered to homes across Oxford on Monday in the latest stage of Oxford's green revolution.

The first of 16,000 wheelie bins will be taken to doorsteps to replace black rubbish sacks in Cowley, Iffley, Iffley Fields, Blackbird Leys, Littlemore, Rose Hill, Greater Leys, Northfield Brook, St Marys and Cowley Marsh.

At last month's meeting of the full council, councillors voted by 22 to 14 that "it should be Oxford residents who decide what is the most appropriate waste collection method for their property, not city council officers".

But officers will recommend that the city's executive board sticks to its guns and the wheelie bin plans should still go ahead on grounds of safety, cost and practicality.

Labour councillor Colin Cook said the Lib Dems would ignore the full council's wishes at its peril.

He said: "I hope that the executive board will come to its senses and listen to the democratic view of the council.

"There are many residents unhappy about the scheme, who do not want wheelie bins imposed on them. I thought a vote of 22 to 14 was a clear majority. But the Lib Dems don't seem to understand the meaning of democracy."

Mr Cook said if the "will of the council is ignored" he would be raising the issue of a no confidence vote in Ms Fooks at the next Labour group meeting.

The threat comes as the city Lib Dems lost their third councillor in nine months. Tia MacGregor, who represents Quarry and Risinghurst, said the party "was no longer working for her" and would now sit as an independent councillor.

It leaves the Lib Dems running the council with just 16 councillors, two fewer than Labour's 18.

Craig Simmons, the Green group leader, said: "The Lib Dems need to be careful. They are a minority administration. There are only so many decisions made against the will of the majority that the council will stand. Each is another nail in the coffin."

He said that while the Greens recognised the benefits of wheelie bins, there needed to be flexibility. "Wheelie bins are just not workable in some areas. Forcing people to use them will only build up resentment."

But Jean Fooks, who faced a barrage of criticism at an area committee meeting on Tuesday night, said: "It is an operational decision not a policy decision. We have excellent officers and we need to listen to them.

"The city is being much more flexible than most authorities. We recognise that some people may not be able to cope. We will try to help them, perhaps by supplying smaller bins."

She said lilac sacks could be made available for people in terraced homes with no front gardens or with steps.

She said: "If they want a vote of no confidence, let them do it. This was Labour's scheme in the first place. I just happen to be sitting in the hot seat."

An Osney Island resident said: "Beside the aesthetic considerations of ugly plastic objects disfiguring the city streets, there is a real fear that the main reason people are being forced to use them is that they are part of the long-term plan to make us pay extra for our waste disposal. The bins are all fitted with microchips in their lids to make it possible for officials to know the weight of rubbish they contain."