As rubbish continues to pile up in roads around Epping Forest, the Conservative-led council has been criticised for failing to take full responsibility.

As temperatures increase, some people are reporting maggot infestations while others claim they are making their own arrangements more than two weeks after a new schedule and “high-tech” vehicles were introduced by Epping Forest District Council and contractor Biffa.

The new four-day schedule has been hit by problems since it started on May 12, with the council blaming software problems for missed rubbish and recycling collections.

The Conservative council, which previously blamed other issues such as “crews learning new routes," has now been criticised for not taking responsibility.

“The majority group need to be taken to account,” said Independent councillor Stephen Murray, who said his own road “looked like a rubbish tip” for several days.

Epping Forest Guardian:

Independent councillor Stephen Murray

“We have got a strong majority group and they are very quick to take credit for anything that goes successfully but they do not seem quite so quick when things go wrong.”

People continue to report problems to the council using services such as Twitter, where Liberal Democrat councillor Jon Whitehouse was one of many to receive an apparently automated response from the council.

Cllr Murray says he will raise the issue at council meetings and ask questions to councillors Chris Whitbread and Will Breare-Hall, the council leader and environment councillor.

He said: “It is possibly the most frontline service the district council is responsible for.

“Although you would not expect everything to run absolutely smoothly from day one, I think the scale of the disruption is such that the leader of the council and the responsible portfolio holder should be doing everything to relieve the situation and then think about if they should take any responsibility for what happened.”

In an online statement, cllr Breare-Hall previously said: “Where we have made mistakes or fallen foul of the new technology I can only apologise to residents for the inconvenience and thank everyone for continuing to work with us.”

Councillors Whitbread and Breare-Hall have been contacted for further comment.

Epping Forest Guardian:

Liberal Democrat councillor Jon Whitehouse was one of many to receive a template reply from the council online