So many people have complained about deliveries of black bin bags council officers are no longer dealing with the problem, it has been claimed.

Tendring Council's contractor gives black bags to 64,500 homes once a year.

But new streets have been missed, residents have moved and taken the bin liners with them and some sacks have been stolen.

Officers have been told to refer the problem to district councillors.

Matthew Patten, who represents Bradfield, Wrabness and Wix, made the claim after he was contacted by angry residents.

Mr Patten said: "This has reached such epidemic proportions the officers in the environment department have stopped dealing with it.

"Instead residents are told to phone their district councillor who has been told to judge whether the resident is being truthful."

Michael Talbot, Tendring Council's portfolio holder for the environment, said there has always been delivery problems but nobody has quantified the size of the problem before.

He said: "To put the problem in perspective, there are 64,500 properties in Tendring that should be delivered black sacks.

"I would estimate that, excluding around six roads which were not delivered at all, individual requests for missed sack delivery are of the order of 50 to 60."

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