Councillors across the New Forest are receiving complaints after the council's bin roll-out caused significant issues.

The first phase of the New Forest District Council's bin roll-out, launched in June, has seen donkeys knocking over wheelie bins and other animals tearing into food waste caddies.

Councillor David Harrison said: "I offer no criticism of the staff at New Forest District Council for coping as best they can with the shambles that is the roll-out of the new household waste collection service.

"The Conservative administration didn't listen to concerns being expressed to them about how the roll-out should happen - now councillors from across the New Forest are getting complaints and not just where phase one of the roll-out has happened.

"It was pretty predictable that there would be a need to greatly increase the capacity of customer services to handle calls.

"I don't know whether the Conservatives failed to anticipate the switchboard being swamped or didn't want to spend any extra money resourcing the service, but the outcome has been thousands of people waiting to speak to somebody at the council, with long waits and no answer."

Recommended reading:

The introduction of wheelie bins was contentious, with many residents arguing they were an eyesore to the Forest landscape.

Councillor Geoffrey Blunden, portfolio holder for environment and sustainability, addressed the issue in a letter to residents.

Cllr Blunden said: "Some households, including in Brockenhurst and Lymington, have experienced delays to their food waste collections since the introduction of our new waste service and for that I am sorry.

"I know this will be an inconvenience and thank residents for their continued patience as we work through the early stages of this major service change.

"Since the start of the new service, we have collected over 100 tonnes of food waste to be recycled, and the move to bins and caddies is already leading to an improvement in street cleanliness.

"We are allocating extra resources where needed and continuing to follow up on missed collections."

Residents are encouraged to report uncollected waste on the council's website.