A RUBBISH controversy has erupted in Basingstoke with 2,300 residents complaining to the council about the piles of refuse left outside their homes.

Stinking heaps of rubbish and rotting food were left piled up in front of as many as 25,000 homes in Basingstoke and the surrounding area after the winter freeze stopped refuse collections on Thursday, December 28.

Several inches of snow fell in freezing temperatures overnight the night before, making conditions treacherous on ungritted roads in and around Basingstoke.

Bosses from waste collection firm Biffa decided to abandon collections halfway through the route when a 26-ton refuse truck had to be dug out of the snow.

Lines of cars parked on both sides of narrow residential streets made it difficult for truck drivers to negotiate collection routes in the icy conditions.

Around 25,000 households missed the Christmas collection, delayed by bank holidays.

Contractors Biffa decided it would cause too much confusion to change published collection days and so stuck to the pre-arranged timetable - leaving areas with mounds of Christmas and New Year rubbish building up outside homes.

As a result, some homes have had two collections but others have had none for up to 16 days.

The Gazette has received a stream of calls from angry council taxpayers, complaining of rubbish blocking alleyways, driveways, and strewn across streets and country lanes - causing an eyesore and a health risk.

Householders in Riverdene, Popley, Winklebury, Brighton Hill, South Ham, Tadley, Whitchurch, Overton and Bramley were hit when collections were cancelled.

Basingstoke hospital medic Dr Peter James, who lives in Newnham, said: "We have been told by the council to bring rotting rubbish back into our homes.

"There is a risk of infection from rats scavenging around the bins, and elderly and frail people should not be expected to handle unsanitary refuse.

"There are all kinds of health implications which I think the council is ignoring."

Chris Turner, of Rokill pest control based in Sherborne St John, confirmed that rats flushed out of their nests by recent heavy rain are foraging for food and nesting material.

He said: "Any rubbish left lying around is a prime target for them."

A spokeswoman for the borough's environmental health department said: "We have not had any increase in complaints about rats and the weather is not hot enough to create a risk to public health."

Refuse collection crews have been putting in 13-hour days to clear the backlog of rubbish and opening hours have been extended at the county council-run tip in Wade Road.

This is the first crisis faced by the new cabinet-style borough council administration which came into effect on January 1.

Councillor George Hood, cabinet member for Community Wellbeing, said: "We will be sitting down after all this is over to see if there are any lessons to be learned. "

Biffa contracts manager Stan Day said: "Usually in this kind of situation we call on other agencies to provide extra manpower and machines but they had nothing spare to give us."

Crews are returning to the town's Wade Road depot to empty trucks, on average, five times a day, compared with the normal two.

Refuse teams will also work on Saturday, and staff have been asked to work this Sunday after Hampshire County Council agreed to open the tip.

Council litter teams have been deployed around the town to pick up rubbish scattered along roads and pavements.