THE trend towards fortnightly rubbish collections looks set to continue after the Government backed away from efforts to have councils restore them weekly.

A number of councils in the region now operate alternate collections with refuse being collected one week and recycling the next.

This means householders have to wait a fortnight for rubbish to be collected.

The Conservatives had pledged to preserve the “basic right” of householders to have their rubbish collected each week and former Communities Secretary Sir Eric Pickles announced a £250 million fund to support councils to keep or return to weekly collections.

But it failed to convince councils to switch and the funding looks set to be axed in the Chancellor’s autumn spending review.

A spokeswoman for Darlington Council said it changed to fortnightly refuse collections in October last year and it had been “very successful”.

That is despite frequent criticisms from some residents who were given wheelie bins for the first time last year.

The spokeswoman said: “The aim was to save £400,000 a year and to date we have achieved that.”

Darlington independent councillor Kevin Nicholson added: "The scheme was very unpopular when it started, but people have settled into it now."

A spokeswoman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said: “The Government continues to champion frequent and convenient bin collections which protect the environment and public health.”