AS I know your letters page is widely read, could I use it to remind readers of major changes to refuse and recycling collections that are underway?

Almost half of households in the Cherwell district – that’s 23,000 homes – will see their bin collection day change, some earlier in the week and others later, so the potential for hiccoughs is huge.

We’ve used every possible means to try and ensure nobody is caught out. It’s been in the press, in newsletters, in leaflets through doors and on labels stuck on bins.

But, with so many affected and in mid-holiday season, someone will have missed it and even if 99.9 per cent of people know, that’s still two dozen annoyed residents – two dozen too many.

I would urge everyone to have a look at http://tiny.cc/7mcmq to see if their collection is due to change but our customer service team is on full alert so, if there are any problems, call us and we’ll try to fix them.

There is absolutely no question of penalising anybody; rather the opposite.

Certainly, if your bin collection has moved a couple of days later and you’ve run out of room, there’s no problem about leaving an extra black bag tied up beside it.

When it’s all through and, in a month or so, we can’t remember what the fuss was about, there’ll be annual savings of £10,000 and tons fewer carbon emissions, plus increased capacity, putting off the day when we have to spend the extra £125,000 a new collection round costs – so it’s worth doing.

Fingers crossed for a smooth transition.

COUNCILLOR JAMES MACNAMARA Lead member for environment Cherwell District Council