The Labour leader of North Herts Council, Daniel Allen, has apologised to residents who faced issues after the roll-out of a new bin collection service in August.

"To individuals that have had problems with the service, I am sorry for the initial issues we've had," he said at a North Herts Council meeting on Thursday (2 October). 

But he insisted that "problems getting it started" – such as missed collections and bins not being delivered in time for the start of the roll-out – have now been "overcome" and that "the success of this switch has been brilliant".

From August 4, changes to bin collections saw general waste and recycling collections switch to a three-weekly cycle, with new 240-litre blue recycling bins introduced and changes made to collection days for some residents.

The roll-out came to both North Herts Council and East Herts Council after a new contract was agreed with waste contractor Veolia.

At Thursday's council meeting, Liberal Democrat councillors raised concerns about issues with the roll-out and called for a council apology to residents affected.

Liberal Democrat councillors accused the administration of complacency and poor leadership.

Cllr Caroline McDonnell (LD) said residents had complained of missed collections, "inaccurate and inconsistent information" about the roll-out, and customer services being "overwhelmed".

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She said some residents in her ward, who required assisted collections and medical waste collections, were "yet to have a bin emptied since the new schedule started" around nine weeks ago. 

Cllr McDonnell said: "Residents deserve an apology. They deserve to know that we have heard their frustrations and complaints, that we have learned lessons and resolved to improve our processes for future projects."

Cllr Amy Allen (Lab), executive member for environment, said that "the scale of change will always bring challenges", with more than 230,000 containers delivered to properties across North and East Herts.

According to Cllr Allen, 97% of required bins across the two districts were delivered by the start of the August roll-out, with "the vast majority of households…able to participate in the new service from day one". 

She said: "As anticipated, the introduction of the new service design led to more reports of missed…collections.

"The shift to a three-week cycle brought new routing and scheduling complexities.

"While efforts were made to retain historical crew knowledge, this wasn't always possible.

"Where problems were identified, as they have been, they were addressed … and the system is improving."

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She announced that the amount of general waste collected is "down by between 50 and 60% compared with earlier in the year", with the roll-out seemingly increasing recycling levels across North Herts.

Some councillors, such as Martin Prescott (Con) and Tamsin Thomas (Lab), said that issues had been dealt with quickly once raised, but others said this had not always been the case.

Cllr Sean Prendergast (LD) said the efforts of officers had not "always led to timely resolution", and Cllr Steve Jarvis (LD) claimed some residents who had complained had been accused of "lying" or had been asked to provide CCTV evidence that they had put their bin out.

The leader of the Liberal Democrat group, Cllr Ruth Brown, said the roll-out was "a good news story with some issues".

She continued: "It is not widespread failure across the district, but it is in pockets.

"It's not universal, it's not widespread, but there have been some really serious teething problems.

"While that is expected, the thing that is disappointing is when they haven't been resolved quickly."

Responding to a point raised by Cllr Claire Strong (Con), Cllr Amy Allen also noted there had been an "unfortunate surprise" when Veolia put their routes together, with some residents now having their garden waste collected on a different day to their other waste. 

The Liberal Democrat motion calling for an official apology from the council to residents "unnecessarily inconvenienced" by issues with the changes to bin collections was defeated by 21 votes to 17, with seven abstentions.