THURROCK Conservative leader Rob Gledhill has hit out at the council’s decision to bring forward morning bin collections an hour this summer.

As of this week, wheelie bin collections will commence at 6am rather than 7am in a bid to prevent refuse workers working in the hot midday sun, with high temperatures predicted for the summer months.

The new times will be in place until August 31.

Mr Gledhill said "I have concerns over the Labour-run Council's decision to start the bin collection an hour earlier. I understand that the crews have choice of starting at 6am and if they do it will still see them working extremely hard in the midday sun right up until about 2:30pm.

“With it being optional and the refuse workers still being out in the hottest part of the day I fail to see how it is actually protecting them.

“We know that bin collections are noisy so all I can see this doing is waking up residents and increasing the number of complaints. I will be asking officers for an update on complaints on a weekly basis to monitor its impact.

“We all want bin men to be safe and our bins collected at a reasonable time - I fail to see how this proposal will do both."