RESIDENTS in Flintshire are fuming over rubbish which they say has been lying in the street uncollected since before Christmas.

Householders and community leaders in Maes Teg and Tudor Avenue, Flint, and the Buckley Bistre West ward claim their black sack rubbish has been left to rot.

Buckley councillor Ron Hampson said: “In some parts of my ward it’s been up to four weeks since residents have had their bins emptied.

“My area is particularly bad because there are a lot of estate roads which were frozen over.

“It’s a health hazard and I think the council needs to make a special effort to clear it all away before we have more snow, which is forecast for Wednesday.”

Last week council chiefs said refuse workers had been working hard to catch up with the rounds they missed during the worst of the icy weather.

But a resident from Maes Teg, Flint, who asked not to be named, said his road has been all but forgotten.

He added: “Christmas Eve was the last time some of us had a collection and the rubbish is piling up in people’s gardens.

“We expected a collection on New Year’s Eve, but on that day they were catching up with other work which had been missed over Christmas and did not come to our area.

“We pay our council tax for this service and we just haven’t received it.

“I’ve already taken one lot of rubbish down to the tip and I certainly don’t want to be doing that all the time.

“People are given compensation when they have a problem with their water or heating, so I want to know how the council are going to compensate people for this.”

A Flintshire Council spokesman said normal refuse collections began again yesterday.