Hundreds of people have put their names to a petition calling on Barnet Council to sort out its bin collection problems.

Councillors from the Labour group have drawn up a petition urging the local authority to resolve the issues that have led to missed collections across the borough – and led to the appearance of a “garbage mountain” on one estate.

The petition – which has more than 460 signatures – also calls on the council to ditch plans to charge for green waste collections and bring back a separate food waste collection service.

Barnet Council rolled out sweeping changes to collection routes on November 4, claiming they would make the service more efficient and help to save £750,000 a year.

But missed collections across the borough have sparked health and safety fears, and environment committee chairman Cllr Dean Cohen faced calls to resign at a full council meeting in December.

Labour’s environment spokesman Cllr Alan Schneiderman said: “It’s time for the Tories to stop denying that there is a serious problem and take action to bring back the weekly bin collections they promised at the local elections.

“The current chaos has led to rubbish piling up and becoming a health hazard. Rather than saving money, the Tories are actually paying more for a worse service.”

The council insists the problems with the service are now being ironed out, and council leader Cllr Richard Cornelius has apologised for the disruption, which continued over the Christmas period and into the new year.

In a statement issued last Wednesday (January 9), Cllr Cornelius said: “Our number one priority is to ensure that we start the new year with a high-quality recycling and waste collection service. Our residents deserve nothing less.

“I would like to apologise to those residents who have experienced problems with collections over the festive period.

“I fully accept that the new service has encountered a number of problems since it was introduced, and we have been working hard to resolve these local issues.”

The council leader added that the collection service was “starting to move in the right direction” and thanked street scene staff for their hard work.

The petition is available here.