Fears of a rise in fly-tipping have grown as Enfield Borough Council refuses to rule out scrapping weekly bin collections.

Calls have been made by opposition councillors for Enfield Borough Council to keep its manifesto promise of maintaining weekly waste collection.

Councillor Joanne Laban called on the local authority’s new cabinet member for environment Cllr Daniel Anderson to maintain the collection or face added fly-tipping in the borough.

She told the Enfield Independent: “The Labour Party were elected last year on a mandate to deliver weekly bin collections. The fact they are not ruling it out shows a U-turn in policy and a broken promise to residents.

“In terms of blaming government savings all parties knew of this so this should have been anticipated when the Labour Party promised weekly collections in its manifesto.  

“Currently the Labour Council is showing no commitment to keep the streets clean and tidy.”

Yet Cllr Daniel Anderson would not be drawn into ruling out the claims and said the councillor is “scaremongering” over possible cuts.

He said: “Given the anticipated levels of government funding cuts, which is already in the region of £80m, it would be foolish in the extreme to try and determine future service proposals at this stage.

“However, as a responsible council, I can assure your readers that we are continually looking at innovative ways of delivering the most effective services - that residents expect - in the most efficient ways possible.

“To that end, we are particularly committed to increasing recycling rates, as this will significantly help reduce the financial burden on local taxpayers.

“There is no u-turn so I fail to see how fly-tipping can increase. It is simple scaremongering. It is plain daft to try and determine future service proposals when we don’t know the extent of government funding cuts, already in the region of £80m.

“However, I’d advise Cllr Laban, as she is clearly so animated by the topic, to contact George Osborne and support us in making the case for the funding we need to deliver the services residents expect.”

Cllr Laban added: “The fact is residual waste has risen and fly tipping levels are increasing. The council's response on recycling is pathetic given the fact it charges for larger recycling bins what incentive is that to increase recycling?

“The council also has large fees for bulky waste collection putting people off of doing the right thing leading some to take the option of dumping it on the streets.”

Former MP for Enfield North Nick de Bois launched a petition earlier this year to keep weekly bin collections, which attracted 1,412 signatures.