Residents have raised concerns after their bins have been left unemptied on several occasions in the Heaton and Doffcocker area.

Now they have voiced fear about fly-tipping because of the excess Christmas waste households have.

But Cllr Andy Morgan has moved ot reassure residents that bins are being emptied but there has been a backlog due to the weather.

Cllr Andy Morgan, Heaton and Lostock Ward Councillor, said: “I am aware that bins have been missed in Heaton and we have contacted the relevant teams, but the situation has been exacerbated the last week due to the bad weather and the teams are in the process of catching up.

“I would encourage residents to contact the council to report the missed bins and the teams if they have got the capacity will try and get back to empty them.

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“I have been told they attempt three attempts and if they can’t get it then they leave it to the next scheduled pick up.

“We can only apologise on behalf of the council, there’s just nothing we can do about the weather.”

On Facebook residents have shared the problems they have been facing with one saying they should have had their bin emptied a week ago and it still hasn’t been emptied.

They said: “Should have been a week ago still not happened. And told could be after Xmas now.”

Whilst another said: “It’s a service we pay a hefty amount for, and which will increase again in 2023 but the service is getting worse.

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“It’s a joke that people are having to pay private bin collectors to pick up the slack!”

One person said they called the council yesterday, they said: “Spoke to them today, and they stated everyone who was missed is on an overspill list and they will be collected.

“They said leave them out as they can be emptied from 7am to 6pm and said we will be emptied very soon.”

There are several reasons bins could be missed, it could be due to operational reasons, access issues or weather.

Cllr Nadim Muslim, Executive Cabinet Member for Environmental Service Delivery, said: “Following the recent snow and icy conditions, that stopped normal service being provided for safety reasons, we are aware of a small area of outstanding work in the Heaton and Doffcocker area, that requires servicing. 

"The safety of the collection crews and other road users is of paramount importance and where it is unsafe to operate the service is suspended; this is then followed by a recovery plan.

"We have also had access issues due to parked cars blocking the collection vehicle.

"We encourage residents to park considerately, to allow the collection teams access to the areas to complete the work.

"We have crews in both areas recovering that work.

"We thank service users for their patience.

"May we take this opportunity to wish our service users a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.”