The re-appointment of the councillor responsible for waste and recycling is “an absolute disgrace” during the ongoing missed collection saga, it was claimed last night.

Speaking at the annual meeting of Epping Forest District Council, independent Stephen Murray criticised Conservative Chris Whitbread, who was re-elected as leader of the council for another four-year term.

Cllr Whitbread confirmed that his cabinet, including environment portfolio holder councillor Will Breare-Hall, would be keeping their positions.

Despite Cllr Whitbread’s announcement of an overview and scrutiny panel into the new four-day waste collection schedule, his decision to automatically keep Cllr Breare-Hall in cabinet was criticised.

Cllr. Breare-Hall - absent from the annual general meeting due to a business commitment in the United States - should not have kept his position, cllr. Murray said.

He said: “You might realise something major is going on out there in the district…

“It is an absolute disgrace chairman, and we should not be automatically reappointing for the year, this should be an interim appointment.”

Responding to the comments, cllr. Whitbread claimed it was “too big an issue to play politics with tonight”.

He said: “Cllr. Breare Hall is responsible as the portfolio holder, he is looking forward to bringing a report to cabinet and taking questions on the issue and I have already spoken to other members of the Conservative group to discuss how this will be brought to an overview and scrutiny select panel to discuss in the future.

“It is very important that we resolve the issue, very important that we get this moving forward and it is very important that after that, we look at what went wrong but first and foremost we need to resolve the issue.”

Criticism of the council has been growing this week, as people around the district reported rubbish piling up uncollected for four weeks.

Yesterday, cllr. Breare-Hall said he accepted responsibility for the issues with the new schedule and “high-tech” vehicles, part of a £50m contract with Biffa.

He said the service “has fallen far short of what we and our residents expect” and apologised for inconvenience and disruption.

Almost three weeks after the start of the new schedule, Biffa has also released a statement apologising for problems but also claimed: “It is important to recognise that much has gone right.

“We have achieved a 99% collection rate in the first fortnight of the new schedule.

“However, we do appreciate this means little to those who have not had the service they expected.”

At the meeting in Civic Offices in Epping last night, the posts of chairman and vice-chairman were renewed, with councillor Liz Webster – who was re-elected after standing unopposed in recent elections – following her late husband Don Spinks to become chair, with councillor Jeane Lea becoming vice chair.