GARDEN waste collections will restart across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole from today.

The service was stopped last month as BCP Council took the decision to prioritise its kerbside waste and recycling collections with a number of its staff either ill or self-isolating.

But its leader, councillor Vikki Slade, said it would begin again at the start of the week and she “hoped” staffing levels would remain high enough to keep it running.

Concerns had been raised about the amount of fly-tipping and bonfires going on, and that this is being exacerbated by a lack of any provision to get rid of garden waste.

Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood has called for tips to be re-opened but this has been ruled out by the council until government guidance on what constitutes essential journeys has been changed.

And both the council and Dorset fire service have urged against lighting bonfires due to concerns they could grow out of control and also exacerbate neighbours’ health problems.

But in a live Facebook Q&A, Cllr Slade said garden waste collections would be reinstated from Monday, with staffing levels now at a point where this could be done.

“When the coronavirus problem first started it was fairly obvious we were going to lose a proportion of staff and we had to prioritise services,” She said.

“We made the decision that in needing to prioritise refuse, recycling and food waste, the one part of our service that we could suspend was green waste.

“But we will be restarting collections from next week. Everybody who has a green waste collection will be notified of when theirs will be.

“We hope we will have enough staff to maintain that service going forward, if that isn’t the case we will notify people.”

She said the council would make up for missed collections by making extra this year or by accounting for them in next year’s charges.

The council said everyone who has signed up for the service will be contacted with details of when theirs will take place.