Residents in south Reading who were left without bins for four months have now been forced to wait four weeks for their food waste bin to be collected.

Reading Borough Council (RBC) has apologised again to the residents at a four-flat building on Northumberland Avenue.

Ingrid Doctrove, who lives in one of the four apartments, said the food waste bin was not collected for a month.

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She said she tried to call and get it sorted but nothing happened as a result.

Calling the Chronicle on Monday, July 12, she said: “The bloody thing stinks because it has not been collected for the last month, especially in the summer heat.

"It is not nice. Nothing has been done. That is what we are paying our council tax for. It is disgusting.”

The Chronicle contacted the council the same day and the next day a RBC spokesman apologised and confirmed the food waste would be collected this week.

A spokesman for the council said: “RBC apologises that the food waste bin has not been collected.

“The weekly collection frequency is intended to stop issues with smells such as the resident has experienced, and the missed bin will be collected before the end of Wednesday.

“The crew will be made aware of the issue, and reminded that collection of food waste bins is a priority. The council will investigate why the bin has not been collected.”

Ms Doctrove confirmed to the Chronicle this morning (Friday, July 16) the bins had been collected on Wednesday.

Previously, Ms Doctrove and other residents at the Northumberland Avenue flats were left without bins for four months until an intervention from the LDRS.

Reading Chronicle: PICTURED: Northumberland AvenuePICTURED: Northumberland Avenue

Reading Borough Council (RBC) blamed this on an external contractor, saying the bins taken from the apartments in February were supposed to replace them the same day.

Ms Doctrove said the council told her it would take 10 weeks to deliver new bins for the four flats.

READ MORE: Council apology after families left without bins for four months

Even with this astonishingly lengthy timetable for replacing the four bins, residents had not received new bins more than four months later when Ms Doctrove called The Reading Chronicle office to complain on Friday June, 18.

The Chronicle contacted the council the same day (Monday, June 21) to find out what had happened.

Two days later, on Wednesday, June 23, Ms Doctrove told us the council had sent the bins that morning.

RBC said it would carry out an investigation into why this happened and ensure the waste is collected as planned in future.

Food waste bins were introduced for thousands of properties in Reading in late 2020 and early 2021, with full rollout continuing this summer.