Councillors in Weston have agreed to extend a contract with a firm which empties dog bins in the town, to give it time to improve its ‘patchy’ service.

Weston Town Council is in charge of around 50 dog bins which cost £1 per bin to empty when they were first introduced.

The fee went up to £2 a year later, before rising to £6 per bin in 2015. Weston Town Council opted to go with a different contractor – Bin-It Ltd – which charged £4 per bin instead.

In a report to Weston Town Council’s policy and finance committee on Monday, clerk Malcolm Nicholson said: “The contract has largely been carried out, however there have been blips.

“There were three missed collections in March and one late collection which was reflected in a reduction in the bill. It is understood the heavy snow caused particular difficulties but in the light of this the contract was extended from April 1 for only six months.

“Unfortunately we seem to be experiencing continuing problems with the service.

“We have a number of further dates of missed collections.

“In addition I received complaints from the public of dog bins overflowing and not being collected for over a week, and in some cases two weeks, on several occasions.

“However, this has been partly caused by people using dog bins for general waste, exacerbated by North Somerset Council removing litter bins without consultation so may not be the fault of the contractor.

“What has been particularly frustrating is the lack of communication from Bin-It when there are genuine problems.

“We have since received communication from the company’s new office manager, apologising for the lack of communication and promising to be contactable in future with a direct mobile number and email address.”

The firm is based in London and the council has made enquiries with local operators to see if they can provide the service, but no offers have been received.

The contract ends on September 30 and the council had to decide whether to terminate it and look for a new operator, extend it for 12 months or renew it for six months.

The committee agreed to extend its contract with Bin-It for six months – until March 31 – while reviewing performance.