RESIDENT Robert Brown was quite happy to respond to a council questionnaire on recycling until it started quizzing him on more personal matters.

He was left fuming when he found out he was being asked for his sexual orientation and religious beliefs.

Bury Council sent out 5,000 questionnaires to homes across the borough to evaluate the success of a pilot recycling scheme.

But Mr Brown, of Walmersley Road, was in for a shock when the questions moved from waste collections and touched on whether he was disabled, which religion he followed, his ethnic group, and whether he was lesbian or gay, heterosexual or bisexual.

He said: "They are very intrusive questions. How I live my life has nothing to do with how my bins should be collected."

Despite the questionnaire stating the information was voluntary and would be treated confidentially, Mr Brown argued the questions were an invasion of his privacy.

He said: "Why does it matter what my religious beliefs are when it comes to my recycling? The aim of the document was about how to save waste, but the council has just created even more waste by sending out these offensive forms."

Supporting Mr Brown's views was Councillor Dorothy Gunther, for North Manor Ward, who described the questions as "absolute nonsense" and promised to do all she could to stop such questions being asked in future.

She said: "We seem to have lost the plot in this country. I understand that in some circumstances these questions need to be asked, but for such a simple questionnaire on recycling it is absolutely ridiculous and irrelevant."

A spokesman for Bury Council apologised for upsetting Mr Brown and reassured that any responses to the questionnaire would be treated in confidence.

He said: "The council has a legal obligation to ensure no-one is treated unfairly. Under national and European legislation, we are obliged to collect and analyse certain information to help us to provide and deliver equitable services.

"Most of the questions were used in the 2001 Census and were subject to strict tests and nationwide trials before being deemed as acceptable."