It will be very much business as usual in Tendring over Christmas and New Year as frontline services are maintained for residents.

Tendring District Council (TDC) will not be closing its offices until 4pm on Friday December 23 and they will reopen again from Wednesday December 28 through to Friday December 30.

Offices will be closed on New Year's Day and then reopen again on Tuesday January 3.

For emergencies on those few days that offices are shut, residents should contact the Council's Control Centre on 01255 222022.

TDC's Clacton Cash Office in Pier Avenue will not be open on Christmas Eve (and will close at 3.15pm on December 23 to cash up) but will open as normal on New Year's Eve.

All public conveniences will be open every day over the festive period except for Connaught Avenue, Frinton, which will close on Christmas Day.

Waste and recycling collections will be managed in the normal way so as to reduce the impact on homes.

TDC, working with its contractor Veolia Environmental Services, will keep disruption to an absolute minimum over the period from December 26 through to January 8.

The majority of people will get their collections the day after it would normally take place; therefore those visited on a Tuesday will be collected on Wednesday and so on, and those on Friday collected on Saturday.

However, those who usually have a collection on a Monday will not receive one on Christmas week (December 26) as this is a Bank Holiday but will get a double collection on Tuesday January 2.

Nick Turner, TDC's Cabinet Member for the Environment, said that every possible combination had been considered.

"We have made sure that as many residents as possible get their one collection each week, albeit on the following day to normal," he said.

"However, we have had to also take into account waste and recycling tipping arrangements with Essex County Council as we cannot make a collection if there are no sites open to take the materials."

Cllr Turner apologised to those minority of homes which will not get a collection for two weeks and one day due to their normal collection being on a Monday but said there was no way round the situation.

"I would ask residents to bear with us and only put bags and recycling out on the morning they will be collected," he added. Together we can help to keep the District's streets as clean and tidy as possible over the festive period."

TDC's Dog Warden and pest control services will continue and all the Council's 80 recycling bank sites will be open over the festive season which allows residents to recycle their glass bottles, cans, textiles and paper.

Free disposal and recycling of all household waste is available at Essex County Council's Recycling Centres.

For full details of other services - such as sports and leisure facilities - visit the Council's website, click on Useful Festive Information.

15/12/11