Dartford Council has confirmed that bins will continue to be collected weekly following a consultation on waste services.

Council Leader Jeremy Kite has confirmed that weekly kerbside collections will continue once the new waste service contract starts next year 2019.

Jeremy Kite said: “There is a huge amount of pressure on councils to abandon weekly bin collections but that pressure comes from just about everybody except the residents who actually pay for them.

"People tell us time and again that they wish to retain a weekly service and whilst there is a view that reducing the frequency might improve performance against European waste targets the truth is that we’re here to serve the people of Dartford, not anyone else.”

The council held the third Big Bin Vote in December 2017 and the result revealed that nearly two thirds of participating households wanted the current service to be retained.

Residents were asked to pick between three options: the service staying the same, switching to alternate weeks or adopting a new weekly food waste collection.

Legislation requires the final decision to be made Cllr Kite.

Cllr Kite said: “The number of responses increased from the last time we held a Big Bin Vote and it’s clear that people took time to carefully consider all the options.

"We gave them all the facts and they voted by a huge majority to stick with weekly bin collections. We are happy to confirm that a new contract specification will now be drafted to retain weekly kerbside collection and reject any reduction in the frequency of the service.”

Proposals for the new 2019 contract will be presented to Dartford Borough Council’s cabinet.

Councillor Jonathon Hawkes, leader of Dartford Labour, said that residents need to be told how the service will be improved now the decision has been made.

He said: "Councillors were told that moving to fortnightly collections was considered by the council to provide the “best balance of performance and cost”, that moving to fortnightly collections would be the only way the council could improve it’s woeful recycling rate – the worst in Kent and would deliver significant cost savings.

"The council has chosen not to adopt their preferred approach, but they need to come clean with residents if maintaining weekly collections will mean no improvement to the current terrible levels of service they are experiencing."