HYNDBURN Council today admitted it messed up its Christmas refuse collection arrangements and has pledged to do better next year.

The council's environment portfolio holder Ann Scaife says information wasn't communicated to residents properly, leading to confusion and rubbish piled in the streets as people faced a two-week wait for collections in parts of the borough.

The admission comes after Great Harwood resident Neil Henderson, of Westcliffe, demanded a rebate on his council tax last week saying the streets had been strewn with rubbish over Christmas.

Coun Scaife said: "I fully accept that we didn't communicate the details of the new arrangements to householders as well as we should have done.

"Consequently there were some problems with the refuse collection and I'm very grateful to those householders who sensibly took their rubbish back in again."

Anyone who has had problems with rubbish being scattered because of uncollected refuse should call the cleansing helpline on 01254 399988.