After a heavy summer of recycling, North Devon residents are being made aware that garden waste collections will be cancelled for two weeks as of Monday 5 September to allow crews to catch up. 

Lead Member for Environment at North Devon Council, Councillor Netti Pearson says: "We have taken the difficult decision to cancel the garden collection service so we can give priority to our other collections. 

"The summer holidays are always extremely busy from a recycling point of view, but this has been compounded by the national driver shortage. Over the past few weeks, we have been trying to manage the situation with managers and supervisors stepping in to assist the crews, but the problems are still persisting and it is becoming increasingly difficult to catch up. This is why we have taken the decision to suspend everyone’s next garden collection.

"We'd like to thank our residents for their continued patience. We know it has been difficult, but please bear with us."

The garden waste service will be back up and running again from Monday 19 September. 

Residents are being reassured that double the amount of garden waste will be collected on their next collection when the rounds re-commence.