Waste collections suspended after heavy snowfall

Waste collections in parts of a county have been suspended for "safety reasons" following heavy snowfall.

East Suffolk Council said bins would not be picked up "until further notice" due to cold weather affecting road conditions.

Households have been advised by the authority to leave their bins out so that they would be ready for when collections, provided by East Suffolk Services Ltd, resumed.

To allow time for crews to catch up with the delayed collections, the garden waste service would be suspended for the rest of this week until Saturday, the authority added.

A spokesperson for the council said: "We would like to thank households for their patience during this time."

Ipswich Borough Council and West Suffolk Council told the BBC their collections would still go ahead as normal.

A spokesperson for Mid Suffolk District Council and Babergh District Council said: "Our crews are currently working as normal, but the icy weather will of course slow them down."

The suspension comes after the Met Office issued further weather warnings after snow and ice covered parts of the East of England.

A yellow weather warning for ice was issued for parts of Suffolk and Norfolk between 00:00 GMT and 23:59 on Monday.

The cold weather has also seen East Suffolk Council extended its severe weather emergency protocol (SWEP) until next Monday.

It enables anyone sleeping rough to access emergency accommodation and support during bouts of exceptionally cold weather.

"The SWEP will be in place while night-time temperatures could fall to freezing and will be reviewed on Monday," a spokesperson said.

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