A suggestion that missed bin collection compensation money be used to set up a community fund has been dismissed by the leader of North Norfolk District Council (NNDC). 

Duncan Baker, North Norfolk MP, said money the contractor Serco would have to pay NNDC for thousands of missed bin collections since the start of September should benefit householders. 

Mr Baker said: “The council will be due a significant amount back from Serco due to missed bins, will that be passed on? Should a community fund be created out of this?

“We have asked that consideration is given to returning this ‘compensation’ to the community so north Norfolk can benefit from this disruption rather than the money swallowed back into NNDC.” 

But NNDC leader Tim Adams said such a community fund could end up benefiting parts of north Norfolk unequally, and people who had suffered the most from missed bin collections could see no benefit. 

Mr Adams said: “We cannot refund those households directly for various reasons.

"To my mind, the best thing is for that money - if it is indeed deducted from the Serco contract - is to offset the costs of a service or service improvement which would have benefits across the district.”

The collection problems - which started when Serco changed its collections routes - are ongoing. Mr Adams said on Tuesday there had been under 200 missed bin collections over the past week. 

He said he was aware of 19 properties where bins had been repeatedly missed. 

Meanwhile, Serco has apologised for the missed collections. 

The firm said: “Due mainly to national shortages, we continue to experience difficulties in filling key temporary roles and this has impacted on our ability to complete some rounds and return for some missed collections in a timely manner. 

“Whilst we are successfully completing the vast majority of collections on time, and the number of reported misses has significantly reduced, we remain committed to continuing to improve this, and have put in place further measures to address repeated misses, alongside providing additional support to crews to ensure any missed collections are recovered as quickly as possible.”