Uttlesford bin collection error will cost 'thousands'

Petrina Lees, leader of Uttlesford District Council, asked residents to "bear with us"

A council leader has apologised for an ongoing delay to waste collections and admitted the issue would cost "several thousands of pounds" to rectify.

Uttlesford District Council's operator's licence was revoked due to what it described as an "administrative issue" that emerged a week ago.

The Essex council has borrowed refuse lorries from a neighbouring district.

Petrina Lees said she "understands people's anger" and asked residents to "bear with us".

"We're covering all the bases we can to make sure we get the bins done in a timely manner and as cost-effective as we can," said Ms Lees, who is leader of the council and of the Residents for Uttlesford Group.

"We sincerely apologise for what's happened, but we are solution-focused to get ourselves out of this and to do our best to get the bins collected,"

Bins across the Uttlesford district, including here in Great Dunmow, have not been emptied for the last week

Bin rounds were suspended on Thursday last week, although the council said trade waste collections restarted on Tuesday, and domestic collections would resume on Wednesday.

A spokesperson said, via the council website, that recycling collections would not restart until the week commencing 12 February.

Ms Lees said Braintree District Council had loaned some lorries, but that Uttlesford would still use its own crews.

The cost to the council was "in the low tens of thousands", she added.

A timeline for restoring the operator's licence was not possible at this stage, according to Ms Lees, who added that a "very in-depth review" would be carried out.