A “leafy” part of Enfield has been turned into a “mini landfill site” due to people dumping their excess waste there, a resident has claimed.

Peter Smith says scenes of rubbish strewn across the ground near a bin in Hoppers Road, Winchmore Hill, are becoming increasingly common in his neighbourhood.

He claimed the problems started after waste and recycling rounds were cut from from once a week to once a fortnight at the beginning of March.

Enfield Council has also closed the Barrowell Green Recycling Centre due to government restrictions designed to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Mr Smith said: “Since the fortnightly collections, unfortunately there has been a number of people who have been affected by that and are using this local bin as a bit of a mini landfill. I saw two people recently dropping two or three bags off.

“People haven’t got the collections and they have not got anywhere to dump stuff in the recycling centre – they are stuck, really. This has become a bit of an ongoing problem.

“We’ve had horrible flies – like bluebottles, and lots of them – and I don’t understand where they are coming from. Most likely it’s due to so much rubbish in the street.”

Mr Smith said it was a particularly difficult situation for large families living in flats who are producing more waste as they stay at home due to the coronavirus lockdown.

He said he was aware of the council’s temporary “clear all” policy – under which waste teams will collect extra refuse bags left next to bins – but added waste needs to be double or triple-bagged to stop foxes getting to the rubbish.

“If the weekly service was still running, then people would not feel the need to dump rubbish in the area,” he said.

“It should not be a place where people put dirty black bags that get ripped apart by foxes at night.”

When Enfield Council moved from weekly to fortnightly collections, the administration cited the need to save money due to ongoing reductions in Government funding as the main reason for the decision.

Senior Labour councillors said they wanted to protect services such as adult social care and children’s services from budget cuts.

An Enfield Council spokesperson said: “While many London boroughs have reduced their collections during the Covid-19 crisis, Enfield Council has maintained food recycling, recycling, household rubbish and garden waste collections and collecting up to two bags of side-waste per household on rubbish collection days.

“The minority of people dumping their rubbish are at the very least committing a civil offence. We encourage residents to report it using our online tool so the council can investigate and clear it.”