GARDEN waste collections in Oxford will resume from next Monday.

The return of garden waste collections on May 4 will be a permanent change to the normal collection week, according to Oxford City Council.

Garden waste bins will now be collected in the same week as green bins and lilac sacks, not with the blue bins.

The council said that an 'increasing volume of blue bin waste means it is not possible to revert to the old system' as many members of staff are off ill or self-isolating.

Residents are asked to put the garden waste bins and brown eco sacks out the evening before collection or by 6am on collection day.

Due to the Early May bank holiday, collections will be brought forward by one day from Tuesday 5 May to Friday 8 May, including the collection of brown bins and garden waste.

This means that if the usual collection day is Tuesday 5 May, that week it will be on Monday 4 May.

Garden waste bins need to be placed out for collection on the new assigned day with the green bins.

For the time being, it will not be possible to return for missed garden waste bins.

Nigel Chapman, the council's cabinet member for customer focused services, said: "We had no choice other than to suspend the garden waste service in March as we needed to divert our resources to services that are needed by every household in the city.

“I am happy that we are in a position to restart collections and those residents who have paid for this service will once again have their garden waste removed."