A resident is taking legal action against a council over missed garden waste collections.

It comes as Folkestone and Hythe District Council (FHDC) revealed it owes nearly £150,000 to subscribers who missed out on five green bin picks-up over a 10 week period.

The service was suspended in July after contractor Veolia admitted it couldn't cope with all routes due to a shortage of lorry drivers, as well as some staff having to isolate after being 'pinged' by the NHS Covid app.

In order to prioritise general waste, recycling and food collections, the paid-for garden waste service was suspended.

It was re-started in September, but the council is now discussing how it will pay back subscribers for the missed weeks.

Currently, 15,195 people are signed up to the service, which costs them £48.40 annually.

There are 25 collections each year, meaning each fortnightly collection costs users £1.94.

As 10 weeks were missed, it means the cost to FHDC for each two-week cycle is estimated at £29,478 (£1.94 x 15,195).

As such, for the 10 missed weeks, FHDC owes subscribers a total of £147,390 (£29,478 x five weeks).

The total rebate for each subscriber would be £9.70.

The authority has come up with three options on how to pay residents back - a rebate by cheque, rebate by application or reducing next year's annual subscription fee.

Each option raises different benefits and negatives, for example sending cheques to each subscriber would cost £9,877 in stamps alone, plus it would involve additional administrative costs to pay for staff to send out all the letters.

And a downside to option three is that the rebate is to future subscriptions rather than the current subscription.

A report outlining the different options and their costings is due to be discussed by FHDC cabinet members at their meeting on Wednesday.

The document also reveals that one resident is taking action against FHDC over the missed collections.

The council paper states: "The refunds need to be dealt with as quickly and efficiently as possible in order to mitigate any potential legal action that a subscriber may take against the council (one such subscriber has already commenced legal action against us in relation to his refund)."

The report recommends that councillors chose option three.

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