A FORMER city council leader has written to the current chief asking her to urgently review the district's bin collection scheme.

Conservative leader Cllr Caroline Horrill described the waste management as "badly wrong" in her letter to Lib Dem Cllr Lucille Thompson.

This comes after residents were left in the dark about updated collection times and the new kerbside glass recycling system.

Cllr Horrill told the city council leader she has “grave concerns about the management of the current waste contract by your administration”.

In the letter she said: "You have had many months to prepare for the changeover of schedules and the introduction of the new glass collection, which we know needs painstaking project management.

"It is unbelievable to see so many issues for our residents in the Winchester City Council area. I am therefore asking for an urgent formal review by your administration to be completed as soon as possible of what’s gone so badly wrong so that all councillors are updated on the position."

She also questioned how many glass collection boxes still need to be delivered, how many information letters telling residents about the new scheme have not been delivered, how many missed waste collections are still outstanding, and what the status of residents with special waste collection requirement is.

Cllr Horrill added: "Residents expect a council to empty their bins – it is one of the most important jobs an authority should do – but this Lib Dem administration cannot do it consistently across the district and it has failed to implement the new glass collections successfully.

"If the Lib Dems can’t empty the bins, what else can’t they do?"

But Cllr Thompson believes the problems have been "inherited" from the previous Conservative Administration.

She said: "We were forced to extend the current bin contract for another year. The new rounds are part of solving some of those problems.

"We acknowledge that there have been delays in the distribution of letters and calendars and we won’t be using those printers again. As soon as we knew there was something wrong, not only the council but Liberal Democrat Councillors sprang into action using social media and personal contact to spread the word leading to over 23,000 people looking at the bin calendars online.

"Local residents and parish councils also really rallied round and did a great job of informing their neighbours: within 4 days of the new rounds starting over 97% of residents were putting their black bins out correctly. 90% of people are also putting their glass boxes out which shows what a valuable new service this is.

"There is already a review taking place over what has happened. Once the new bin rounds have settled down, we will be setting up a cross party group who will be look at the implementation of the new bin contract we are putting in place next year."