Buckinghamshire Council has apologised for removing two dog waste bins from a popular Wycombe park – after a local campaign successfully had them reinstated in littering hotspots.

The red-lidded bins disappeared from Hughenden Park at the end of July, prompting dogwalkers to overfill the remaining few and general public bins with their refuse bags.

Worse still, some regular park users spotted the knotted bags littered around the grassy area and floating down Hughenden Stream – presumably thrown in in the place of a more convenient option.

Thanks to active local councillor Maz Hussain. the bins were reinstated last week alongside a promise for four more to follow in the near future alongside a larger replacement for the regularly overflowing bin at Coates Lane car park.

Amid the local relief at the action to stop dumped poo bags blighting the landscape, Thomas Broom, the council’s cabinet member for the environment, has apologised for the sudden removal of the bins last month – and explained the thinking behind it.

Mr Broom said the plan was always to replace the ‘old’ refuse spots and increase the regularity of collection but acknowledged that their temporary disappearance had been an ‘inconvenience’ to locals.

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He said: “We apologise for the inconvenience caused by the removal of the old dog waste bins in Hughenden Park. We have now replaced them with new bins that take both litter and dog waste, which are now collected on a daily basis rather than twice a week.”

The council official also thanked Mr Hussain and former mayor of Wycombe Paul Turner for “raising the issue with him directly”.

Sharing the news of the reinstated bins with concerned residents who had dubbed the ordeal ‘bin-gate’ earlier this month, Mr Hussain described those littering their used bags in the parkland as “disgusting” and praised the “team effort” of campaigners to speed along the bin replacements and “keep the park and stream from being totally spoiled”.

Adding: “Working together, we can achieve the outcome we’re hoping for, no matter how big or small the issue.”