COTSWOLD District Council has drawn up plans to ensure that household rubbish is collected during periods of extreme weather.

It follows prolonged periods of ice and heavy snow last winter, which rendered many roads virtually impassable and meant several towns and villages did not have their rubbish collected for some time. However, CDC, working with its waste contractor SITA UK, has developed plans to mitigate the risk this winter.

Under the arrangements, should severe weather cause a single day of disruption to the waste service this winter, crews will now make collections the following Saturday, provided conditions are safe enough to do so.

In addition, if there are multiple days of disruption within a short period, SITA UK will dispatch smaller collection vehicles to key locations, enabling residents to bring bags of waste to designated collection points.

Should the council decide to activate these contingencies, information on any changes to collections, including a list of collection points, will be available on the website www.cotswold.gov.uk or by calling the Council Waste Hotline on 01285 623123.

CDC cabinet lead for environment and communities, Councillor Mark Tufnell,said: "The challenge will be to get waste collection vehicles out to the towns and villages during snowy and icy conditions, and we will work with SITA UK to ensure that every effort is made to continue waste collections when it is safe to do so. I am hopeful that the introduction of the Saturday collection option will overcome some of the problems we encountered last winter, and the collection point contingencies are also a positive step.”

However, he added: “Experience last year showed us that many roads in the Cotswolds quickly became blocked with snow or abandoned and broken down vehicles.

“While we should improve our service this time around, I must emphasise that safety is our major concern and I remind residents that we cannot risk the prospect of large refuse vehicles losing control on icy roads, placing crew members, other road users, pedestrians and property at risk. "