Colchester's new waste collection service has been slammed as "an almighty cock-up".

Councillors heard last night more than £600,000 is predicted to have been overspent on Colchester's waste services by the end of the year.

But bosses have promised to get their act together and sort out the problems.

Officers refused to go into much detail about how the amount had been calculated at a meeting last night, telling the finance and audit scrutiny panel its next meeting will be dedicated to the subject and queries can be answered then.

But councillors were told that some of the £603,000 can be attributed to the fact the council had to hire agency staff and a number of additional vehicles in order to maintain service provision.

Paula Whitney, co-ordinator for Colchester Friends of the Earth, said: "This almighty expensive cock-up by officers has cost the borough £600,000 overspend and undermined years of excellent kerbside collections."

Published Wednesday, September 22, 2004

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