Garden waste collections have been suspended by South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse district councils.

The councils’ bin crews will be prioritising the collection of food waste, recycling and general waste collections following government guidelines in a bid to reduce the disruption to waste collections.

The disruption is due to the ongoing issues of a shortage of HGV drivers who are needed to drive the councils’ waste collection vehicles and an increasing number of waste collection staff being advised to self-isolate by the government’s Track and Trace system.

Emily Smith, Leader of Vale of White Horse District Council said: “Many of our neighbouring councils have also taken the hard decision to suspend temporarily the garden waste service.

“Until it is back up and running again, people can take garden waste to the household waste recycling centres or they could, if feasible, try composting. There is advice on this on our websites.”

Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

For news updates straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.

Have you got a story for us? Contact our newsdesk on news@nqo.com or 01865 425 445.