Some bin collections across North Hampshire that were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic are set to resume next week.

Bulky waste collections will be available in Basingstoke and Deane and Hart from the start of June.

However, it will at first be via booking only, with residents having to do this on the council's website. This will go live on Tuesday (May 26), with collections starting in earnest the following week.

It comes after long queues were seen at the town's Household Waste Recycling Centre last week when they opened for the first time in seven weeks.

Garden collections will resume to a fortnightly service in mid-June. The council say that customers to this service will receive a letter informing them of their start date and the extension of their annual subscription.

However, no new customers will be able to join the service.

Meanwhile, grey waste bin collections, which were reduced to fortnightly last month, will continue as they are for now and will only go back to weekly "until both the council and Serco are confident the weekly service can be sustained by the crews during the pandemic".

Basingstoke council say that garden and bulky waste collections will be suspended again should they not be able to maintain it, or if any of the recycling, general waste or clinical waste services are affected.

Cabinet Member for Environment and Enforcement Cllr Hayley Eachus said: “During this crisis we have had to take difficult decisions to suspend or reduce services including bulky waste and garden waste collections to protect our bin crews, lower the risk of spreading the virus and allow our crews to focus all their efforts on delivering a reliable and sustainable waste, recycling and clinical waste service for the duration of the pandemic.

“We have been closely monitoring staffing levels and planning how we can resume these services for our residents. We have now set out a phased approach for the reintroduction of services, bringing back those requiring fewer crews first to cope with fluctuations in staffing caused by periods of self isolation.

“We have to take a cautious approach to ensure we can continue to deliver our existing core waste, recycling and clinical waste services. We are not yet in a position to reinstate our weekly waste collection but are monitoring this closely and will restore this service as soon as it is safe to do so.”

Cllr Eachus said: “This has been an incredibly challenging time for everyone and I would like to thank our bin crews again for their tremendous hard work during this crisis. I would also like to thank our residents for their understanding and ongoing support and apologise for the disruption to our services during this time. I am pleased we are in a position to bring back most of the services that our residents really value and this will be a huge relief to many I am sure.”