A LEADING Cotswolds Liberal Democrat has hit out at Cotswold District Council’s waste contractor Ubico for cancelling collections for the entirety of this week as a result of the snow.

No waste or recycling collections have been made in the district since Friday, and Cotswold District Council said the earliest they would start again is Monday.

Cotswold Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Paul Hodgkinson (Churn Valley) described the cancellations as “crazy”.

“I understand the issue of being mindful of the safety of workers but we’ve had postmen and other deliveries – it seems to me where there’s a will there’s a way,” he said.

“There has to be some way of doing some form of collection on main roads at least.”

Although Ubico has said residents will be able to leave double the amount of usual waste and recycling on their next scheduled collection day, Cllr Hodgkinson said many residents were angry they would not have collections for an entire month.

“We had the same problem in December 2010 and January 2011 and I was hoping lessons would be learned from that, but clearly not,” he said.

“People say ‘We pay our council tax, why can’t it be collected?’, “Residents expect more than just one collection a month.

“I’m told in other councils they offer overtime to workers – it is a statutory service after all.”

Emergency pick-up points have also been set up at Cirencester lorry park, Fairford High Street car park and Lechlade town council offices and are open from 8am to 2pm until Friday.

Waste collections are going ahead as normal in neighbouring West Oxfordshire district.

Collections are also being carried out in Stroud district, although some delays are being experienced.

Cotswold District Council has today issued a leaflet explaining why collections are not being carried out, including that Ubico’s 26-tonne collection vehicles could pose a serious danger to residents and workers in icy conditions.

The full leaflet can be seen here.