Waste Collection during Extreme Weather

Stratford District Council's waste collection service was unfortunately disrupted by the recent extreme weather, and we would like to apologise to those residents who have been affected by this over the Christmas period and any confusion that may have arisen as a result of this and the revised collection dates that were necessary as a result of the national holidays.

The changes to our normal collection schedule as a result of the festive season were decided in April 2010, and this information was circulated to all residents with their Council tax information earlier in the year, as well as being publicised on the Council's website, in the Council's publication Stratford View distributed in November and released through the local newspapers in the weeks before Christmas. The arrangements were that no collections were to be made on Monday 27^th December and the crews would then collect each settlement 1 working day later than normal and then extend the first week of January to include a Saturday collection so that normal collections could resume from Monday 10^th January.

As a result of the recent adverse weather conditions, many local authorities across the UK have had problems providing a full waste collection service, and although we worked closely with our contractors, Verdant to respond to the conditions during this period, we were forced to suspend or limit services in certain areas. Main routes were gritted by the County Council whereas the majority of other roads were not. The safety of the collection crews, our residents and their property are the deciding factors in how to run the service. Following regular checks, decisions on how to provide the service were made daily and during the worst conditions we were forced to suspend the service entirely for three days before continuing a reduced service as conditions began to improve. Collections resumed in entirety from 30^th December.

Because the difficulties with safely accessing properties were so widespread, and unlikely to improve within a few days, it was decided that any properties missed on their scheduled collection (due to the weather) would be rectified on their next scheduled collection for that material type.

Any residents whose bins were not emptied as a result of the weather and road conditions will be able to put out up to 3 sacks of additional general waste out for their next scheduled collection. Residents who missed a recycling collection are able to put out additional recycling in plastic or cardboard boxes next to their blue-lidded recycling bin.

We have endeavoured to keep the public informed by providing updates on the Council's website and issuing press releases to local radios and newspapers over this period of disruption. Because of the festive season, it proved difficult to ensure these were updated as quickly as we would normally desire, and it is as a result of this conflict of extreme weather and festive holidays that any confusion may have arisen and for which we apologise.

We would like to thank our residents for their support and reassure them that services should be back to normal from next week.