A resident in Buckinghamshire has become frustrated with the lack of garden waste collections by his local authority over the winter period.

Paul Simmons, 75, who lives on Hill Farm Road in Marlow Bottom, said he and several of his neighbours are experiencing a build-up of garden waste after Buckinghamshire Council announced its collection service would cease for six weeks between December and January.

While Paul said he understands the reasoning behind the suspension, at a time of year when the majority of leaves have already fallen, he nevertheless feels that residents on his road have been put in an unfair position, with their usual collection date falling just one day after the suspension came into effect, on December 11.

"On our road, the last time garden waste was collected was on November 28, and around that time there were some pretty severe winds which brought down a lot of leaves.

"My bin was full at the end of November, but the next collection will be at the end of January. We've had to pay for this service over the last couple of years, which is on top of usual taxes, and we've still got a bin full of garden waste!"

He argued that it was especially an unfair burden to put on some of his elderly neighbours, who pay the council £55 for the collection service and will also have to transport their waste to and from the local tip for two months of the year.

"I think that on this occasion, they haven't thought it out very well. The weather has been mild recently, and people still need to tidy up their gardens. At the very least, you should be entering into this suspension period with an empty bin - which wasn't the case for me."

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Paul said he had written to Buckinghamshire Council complaining about the issue but was told that since it was council policy, there was nothing that could be done.

Gareth Williams, Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment responded that the suspension of garden waste collection services was due to the amount of green waste produced "reducing dramatically" during the winter months.

He added: "This means extra resources can be put into waste and recycling collections which increase by as much as a third over the festive period.

“Many councils suspend garden waste collections over the winter, and it’s made clear when residents sign up for the subscription service.

“Residents are of course able to continue filling their garden waste bin during this time, ready for collection once the service restarts from January 22, and many households who have their own compost bins will add fallen leaves to those.

“If they find their bin is full up or want to dispose of their garden waste sooner, all of Buckinghamshire’s household recycling centres accept green waste free of charge.”