Babergh council has suspended garden waste collections during the third Covid-19 lockdown so that crews can prioritise black bin, recycling and medical waste.

A number of crew members have called in sick, meaning a reshuffle of resources has been necessitated.

Babergh confirmed that from today garden waste collections will be suspended until further notice and subscribers to the collections will have their payments adjusted to reflect the missed collections.

It follows a similar suspension of the service during the first coronavirus lockdown in March last year so that essential waste collections of general rubbish and recycling can take place.

A Babergh spokeswoman said: "Making the difficult decision to pause our garden waste collections until further notice allows us to prioritise our most essential collections, during our ongoing response to the pandemic. These include general and medical waste and recycling.

"Unfortunately, our crews are not immune to the continuing impacts of Covid-19, and we must take this step to ensure that we can continue to deliver essential services safely to our residents and communities.

"No resident will be out of pocket from the stoppage, as garden waste payments will be adjusted to reflect missed collections.

"Anyone with garden waste is encouraged to compost, with offers available on the Suffolk Recycling website, or to book a slot at their local recycling centre only if absolutely essential."