A SPECIAL meeting of Winchester City Council leaders is due to be held in the coming weeks to discuss the future of waste services in the district.

The council is currently undertaking a procurement process for a provider to cover bin collections and similar services.

Current provider Biffa hold a short-term contract with the local authority, which runs until October 2020.

An eight-year joint agreement between Winchester City Council and East Hampshire District Council with Biffa came to an end in September this year.

After East Hampshire decided to team up with a different authority on a future partnership, Winchester civic chiefs took the decision to agree a short-term extension to their Biffa contract while they searched for a long-term arrangement.

Interested waste service providers have now submitted their bids to the city council.

Providing an update to cabinet members, Winchester City Council leader Cllr Lucille Thompson said: "Tenders are now in for our new waste contract.

"Officers are looking at them at the moment. We will need to hold a special cabinet early in November to consider those tenders."

As previously reported, Biffa's service in Winchester has been blighted with issues in recent months including missed bin collections and the incident last month which saw a dustcart crash into a house in Stanmore.