BASINGSTOKE council will start looking at the process of restoring weekly waste collections in mid-July, the cabinet member responsible has confirmed.

Councillor Hayley Eachus (Conservative, Kempshott) confirmed at a meeting on Thursday night that the decision to reduce collections to fortnightly was "temporary" and as a result of staffing shortages during the initial coronavirus outbreak.

And whilst she has not set a date in stone, the council will "aim to set a date" for the resumption of weekly black bin collections then.

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It comes after a petition was started for the service to be restored.

Speaking on Thursday, Cllr Eachus said: "We have been regularly reviewing it and from mid-July we will start to look at how we can bring the weekly waste collections in aim to set a date to how weekly service can resume.

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"By the middle of July we would have carried out two full collections of garden waste and will be in a strong position to give you a date to bring collections back online and be confident that we will be able to sustain a reliable service for the duration."

She was responding to a question from Labour group leader Cllr Andy McCormick, who said that there had been various issues since the "imposition" of alternate weekly collections.

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Cllr Eachus added: "That was always done in relation to Covid-19.

"We are definitely going back to weekly waste collections.

"We did it to cope with staffing issues, for example when members of our bin crew self-isolated.

"It is a temporary measure."