A group of opposition councillors is calling on the district council to sack its waste contractors, amid claims residents have been let down by a “disastrous” service that is “clearly” unfit for purpose.

The council’s leading Tory party has “stubbornly” tried to make a “silk purse out of a sow’s ear,” rather than admit it made a mistake by outsourcing the household bin collection service to FCC Environment, the 13-strong group claims.

In a joint statement they say residents have every right to be angry and frustrated at the fiasco and have pledged to fight for the service to be brought back in-house at the next full council meeting on Thursday, September 23.

Cllr Judy Pearce, council leader, has hit back insisting the problems FCC faced in rolling out the new service are different to the current national shortage of lorry drivers which has led to the recent decision to suspend the collection of garden waste.

She appealed to the ‘rebel group’ to “stick to the facts” and “not confuse the two issues”.

The joint statement was signed by Lib Dem, Green and Independent councillors Victor Abbott, John Birch, Julian Brazil, Jacqi Hodgson, Susan Jackson, Katharine Kemp, Mark Long, John McKay, Denise O’Callaghan, Guy Pannell, Joseph Rose, Jo Sweett and Dan Thomas.

The statement issued by the 13 said: “As residents you are being badly let down by SHDC – you have every right to be angry and frustrated.

“Rather than admit their decision to outsource waste collection services has been a disaster, the leadership stubbornly try to make the proverbial ‘silk purse out of a sow’s ear.’

“It was quite clear many months ago that the new outsourced recycling scheme was not fit for purpose.

“In June, the opposition group forced an extraordinary meeting, as the administration refused to debate the issue in public.

“We tried to put the contractor FCC on notice of termination of contract.

“Unfortunately, the majority administration voted this down, and instead procured a number of (empty) promises from FCC.

“It’s now the end of August and brown bin collections have been suspended for at least a month.

“The latest excuse is lack of drivers. If you pay poor wages when there’s a shortage of workers, you’re unlikely to fill any vacancies.”

The group pledged: “We will be bringing a motion to full council in September.

“This will call for the termination of the contract with FCC, bringing the services back in house and working in partnership with more successful councils like Teignbridge.

“In the meantime, we will be doing everything we can to support the frontline staff in delivering the best service they can.

“Throughout this fiasco we know it has not been easy for those emptying the bins or answering the phone to angry residents – we thank them for everything they have tried to do.

“Things won’t be solved overnight but we shall continue to highlight incompetence and not be deflected.

“We are very sorry for the position we find ourselves in, and we will be doing everything to make the administration change their approach.”

In a separate statement, Cllr Birch for Totnes, who instigated the cross-party protest, says the brown bin collection has been deteriorating since the middle of July and the remaining waste collection service, including recycling, shows no sign of improving.

He continued: “The number of missed collections throughout the district is still at an unacceptable level bearing in mind that over 8,500 households are still on the old recycling system of blue and clear bags.

“On top of that 11,000 households are seeing their carefully sorted recycled waste being mixed up and thrown in the back of a wagon for eventual sorting elsewhere.

“All in all FCC has failed miserably to fulfil its contractual obligations in providing a service that the residents of South Hams deserve and expect.

“Matters seem to be going from bad to worse. Residents deserve better than this.

“We have now reached the stage at which the executive at SHDC should tell FCC that it is time for it to step aside and make way for others who can deliver.

“I am sure many residents take the view that enough is enough and its time for a change.”

In response, as Leader of the Council’s Executive and not on behalf of the Council, Judy Pearce said: “We know that everyone is extremely frustrated by the situation, as are we.

“We are extremely sorry for the disruption that this has caused, but we are doing everything we can to put get our services back on track.

“It is very easy when you are in opposition to make alternative suggestions, which on the face of it seem like sensible solutions.

“But I would like the public to know that as the leading members of South Hams District Council, the Executive and I have done everything we can to seek a rapid resolution to this problem.

“Unfortunately certain factors have conspired against us, especially the timing of the national driver shortage, which has compounded the issues we were already experiencing.

“It is crucial that we separate the issues that FCC Environment had with the roll out of the new services, from the national shortage of LGV and HGV drivers.

“We know that there have been issues with the new service, but the reason for suspending garden waste has nothing to do with the roll out of the new service.

“The Road Hauliers Association estimates that there is a national shortfall of approx. 100,000 drivers. Therefore, like many of our neighbouring authorities, FCC Environment are putting the statutory services, waste and recycling first, and suggesting we suspend garden waste for the time being.

South Hams District Council’s Deputy Chief Executive added:“It has been suggested that the solution is to terminate the contract. However it simply isn’t that straightforward. The Council is absolutely committed to working with FCC to ensure that they deliver against all aspects of the contract and improve the service to our residents as quickly as possible.

“It has also been suggested to us that we look to our neighbouring authorities, however as there is a national shortage of drivers, we cannot ask neighbouring authorities for help as they too are having to suspend or reduce waste collection services. West Devon, East Devon, North Devon, Teignbridge, Torbay, Plymouth, Somerset and Bristol are all experiencing disruption to their services because of this issue.

“I want to thank you for your patience, again I want to extend my apologies to you for the poor service.”