COUNCIL HIT BY EFFECTS OF VIRUS LEAVING 'MANY KEY STAFF' SELF-ISOLATING AND FORCING CHANGES TO WORKING PRACTICES

GREEN BIN collections have been cancelled in Atherstone and district as the council's reduced workforce focuses on "essential" waste services in the battle against coronavirus.

North Warwickshire Borough Council announced the move this afternoon to suspend the garden waste scheme from Monday for a month.

It blamed "many key staff" being unable to work through having to self-isolate and changing to working practices for the "difficult" decision.

Two collections will be lost in that time and allows the depleted refuse team to concentrate on household rubbish and increasing amounts of recycling which are an inevitable consequence of the 'stay-at-home' Government restrictions during the Covid-19 outbreak.

More than 100 local authorities have already taken this action, said twin council leader David Wright.

Councillor Wright told Nub News: "Maintaining our essential services is our upmost priority at this unprecedented time.

"We have listened to our teams and feel we need to focus our reduced work force on the essential collections of waste and recycling.

"We hope our communities will be supportive and understanding of our decision."

Cllr Wright, who is also chairman of Atherstone Town Council, said the borough authority is determined to restart collections as soon as possible.

He added: "We are working hard with neighbouring local authorities and other partners to identify ways to bring the service back into operation at the earliest opportunity."

The news hours after the authority admitted it was doing its "very best" to keep the entire bin service running and called on households to refrain from putting out side waste during the Covid-19 crisis.

Coronavirus has already kicked a controversial scheme to slap a £40 charge on Atherstone and district households for collecting their green bins "into the long grass".

Last week the borough council announced it was shelving the June 1 launch until next year, admitting the community has enough to worry about with the spreading pandemic.

Cllr Wright warned then that services were being "stretched" and refuse collection was likely to suffer "disruption" over the coming weeks due to the impact of Covid-19 on staffing levels.