THE MAYOR of Burnley has demanded an investigation because her bin has not been emptied for three weeks.

Councillor Margaret Lishman is among thousands of residents who have been left with wheelie bins overflowing with the remains of Christmas dinner and present wrapping because their rubbish is normally collected on a Monday.

The delay is a major embarrassment to Burnley Council which is running a high profile crackdown on litter, Operation Red Card.

Now the man in charge of waste collections has issued an apology to residents and promised: "It will not happen again."

Households were left a note from waste contractor Biffa and Burnley Borough Council with the last collection on December 20 saying disruption had been 'kept to a minimum' and they 'apologise for the inconvenience caused' but there would be no collection on December 27, 28 or January 3, as they were bank holidays.

That means a fifth of the borough will not have their refuse removed until January 10.

Briercliffe representative Coun Lishman said: "This is quite disgraceful. We have had no collections since before Christmas and there won't be any until January 10, it is just not good enough.

"There are bins overflowing and people are having to go the tip to dispose of their rubbish.

"I understand the problem has come about because there was no provision in the contract to cope with the bank holidays, but we will certainly have to find out how this happened and make sure it can never happen again.

"This is far too long to go without rubbish being collected from a hygiene view quite apart from anything else."

She added: "It's terrible that we have to pay our council tax when bins are not being collected.

"You might have thought that after the recycling fiasco the contract with Biffa would have been looked at again and we will have to consider whether we stay with them as a waste collection contractor."

Operation Red Card, launched earlier this year, aims to clean up the town, discourage fly-tipping and advise traders on how to dispose of waste.

Another Briercliffe councillor Roger Frost said he received 20 complaints in one day following delivery of the leaflets and has written to the council's director of environment David Brown and executive councillor Denis Otter to demand an explanation.

He said: "It is completely unacceptable and none of the councillors were consulted about it.

"Why should families in one fifth of the borough go without refuse collection for three weeks? I'm sure it will lead to illegal dumping. It is a disgrace.

"I will be looking for apologies from the people in charge and make sure it doesn't happen again."

But Coun Otter, executive member responsible for the environment, said: "I can assure people this will not happen again. We are sorry about what has happened this year, but it was unavoidable with the bank holidays coming as they did, but things will change next year."

Conservative group leader Peter Doyle said this was the first time he could remember a situation like this but he had not received any complaints personally.

He said: "I am amazed at this. I thought common sense would prevail and arrangements would be made to make a collection at least once."

British National Party leader Leonard Starr said: "I think it's absolutely deplorable. At this time of year people create more rubbish and it's essential it's collected.

"Somebody should have anticipated this and sorted out contingency measures."

Burnley Council also came under fire earlier this year when fortnightly collections of glass and cans were scrapped. Negotiations are ongoing to try and start the green services again.

The green services were suspended this year when Burnley Council said it could not afford them after a rise in the price quoted by Biffa for the collections.