Bradford Council has denied parts of the district were left looking like “shanty towns” because of poorly-planned bin collections.

The authority came under fire after some households missed out on collections for weeks because Christmas and New Years’ Day fell on their collection days.

The Council says alternate collection days were made clear to everyone who would be effected.

But Coun Glen Miller, leader of the Council’s Conservative group, said: “I would like to apologise to those affected if the Council’s absence of strategic thinking on the matter made your neighbourhoods into candidates for twinning with shanty towns.”

Janet Morrell was visiting a friend near Sandy Lane crossroads when she took a picture of bins waiting for collection. She uploaded it to photo sharing website Flickr under the title “Shame on you Bradford Council,” and users from around the world have commented.

But the Council refutes the allegation it had no plan in place, saying collections due on Christmas were instead made on December 22 and those due on Boxing Day were made on December 29. Bins scheduled for emptying on January 1 were emptied on Saturday, January 5.

It added that households affected by the changes were notified via a tag attached to each bin left out for collection in the week before Christmas and on the Council website.

Coun Andrew Thornton, executive member for environment, said: “As the Christmas and new year bank holidays always fall on the same day of consecutive weeks, we go to a lot of trouble to plan and advertise any changes to collection days. This year approximately half of the households in the district were affected by the changes and only a small number of complaints have been received.”