EIGHTY one weekly bin collections were missed last year across the borough.

Colchester Council had a target to miss no more than 95 collections for the financial year 2016/17, which it beat, as well as the previous year’s result of 82.

Phil Coleman (Lib Dem) was one of several councillors who challenged the council’s deputy leader, Tim Young, on the figure at the council’s recent scrutiny panel.

Mr Coleman said the issue is especially annoying for residents.

Christopher Arnold, chairman of the committee, said: “It strikes me as odd that after all these years we don’t have a zero target.

“We should be aiming not to miss any.”

He then added that 81 is a “pretty mean achievement”.

However, Mr Young argued a nought target is “setting yourself up to fail”.

He explained collections are missed for several reasons including mishaps on the behalf of agency staff who do not know the borough.

He encouraged councillors to join teams during a bin day shift.

He said: “It’s a tiny proportion of the ones we collect each week...that’s a really good result.”

The target has now increased to 95.