Reading Borough Council has responded after a neighbourhood reported that their bins have not been collected for a considerable amount of time.

Locals to Whitley said that waste lorries have not visited their road for over a week and many of the bins on their streets are now overflowing.

The areas particularly affected include Canterbury Road, Northumberland Avenue, Wincanton Road, Totnes Road, Dawlish Road, Brixham Road, and Kingsley Close.

One resident said “I live on Brixham Road and the black bin was meant to be collected on the 13th, it still hasn’t been collected.

“Red bin was collected over a week later. And the roads look absolutely awful.”

In response to the previous comment, another person said “My red bin on Home Farm close was meant to have been collected on Saturday and my food bin hasn’t been collected for two weeks.”

Residents are becoming increasingly distressed about the issue with many now reporting rubbish strewn all over their roads due to overflowing waste.

Reading Borough Council have responded confirming that are experiencing some waste collection delays due to a number of factors including challenges with roadworks along the A33 and the ongoing post-holiday volumes of increased waste.

They are now putting on additional waste collections to catch up with the roads that they have not been able to get to on schedule and are aiming to catch up this week.

A spokesperson for Reading Borough Council has said: “We would like to apologise to residents who are experiencing delays and would ask them to leave their bin out if it has yet to be collected and our crews will be there as soon as possible.”

Councillor Andrew Hornsby-Smith has been keeping tabs on the issue and has described the lack of bin collections as ‘something of a perfect storm.’

He said “The team have experienced vehicle mechanical failure, additional waste from two Easter Bank Holidays, staff leave over half term, and delays due to the bus lane works causing delays on the A33 at key times.

“The Council has gone into an 'extended hours' mode. The latest spreadsheet I've seen suggests that most roads should be collected by the end of today. Please only use this as a guideline as any new events could cause further delays.”

Cllr Hornsby-Smith thanked residents for keeping him updated and has reminded the public that it is a changing situation so they should continue to keep him in the loop.

He continued: “My apologies for the delays. Officers are working to get the backlog cleared as soon as possible.”