Somewhere between £150,000 and £200,000 should be handed back to a district council following months of missed bin collections.

Councillor Tim Adams, North Norfolk District Council’s leader, said the contractor Serco was expected to repay the authority due to ongoing issues since collection routes were changed at the start of September. 

In a letter to Matthew Taylor, the Conservative ward councillor for Stalham, Sutton and Catfield, Mr Adams said NNDC was now negotiating “performance-related deductions” with the contractor. 

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He said: “It is expected we will see somewhere in the region of £150-£200k returned to the district council because of the missed bin collections.

“My expectation is that this money will be invested to make the contract more efficient by reducing time wasted on certain tasks, reducing missed bins, and providing additional methods to keep residents more informed. 

“For instance, I hope to see live information on missed bins available to residents.”

Mr Taylor pressed Mr Adams over the ongoing problems with missed bin collections and called for collection dates to be made clearer. 

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He said a letter sent to Stalham households said bins would be emptied on Thursday, although the council’s website said it would be Wednesday.

Mr Taylor said: “I am most disappointed with the service, and the lack of action taken by the Liberal Democrat administration to see this matter resolved, I know many of my residents in Stalham, Sutton and Catfield share this opinion.” 

Mr Adams said he agreed that the number of missed collections “has not been at all acceptable”.

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He added: “Whilst the industrial dispute between Serco and Unison is yet to fully conclude whilst Unison ballots their members, we have now clearly moved on a great deal from where we were.

"Therefore, further ongoing repeated missed bins without any particular cause will not be tolerated by the council.

“However, the possibility of delays to collections will always exist due to issues such as vehicle breakdowns, illness, and accidents.”