Taking control of its rubbish collection service will be on the agenda for East Hampshire District Council’s cabinet when it meets on September 22.

The cabinet proposes to recommend to full council that East Hampshire withdraws from its contract with Havant Borough Council and enters into a direct contract with Norse Commercial Services before the end of December 2022.

East Hampshire would ask for quarterly reports on progress to improve the service to be presented to its overview and scrutiny committee.

The current delegated agreement was for East Hampshire to receive the service via Havant until the end of March 2026.

The proposed direct contract would keep Norse South East as service provider until that date, but in the meantime East Hampshire would examine its future options in a report to be presented by April 2024.

The move comes after East Hampshire warned rubbish collection was at risk of “complete service collapse” unless emergency measures to fix a shortage of dustcart drivers and bin loaders were successful.

East Hampshire instructed Norse South East to increase driver pay for the second time in just over a month last Thursday – and just a day later the authority confirmed kerbside glass collections would be suspended for another month from September 10.

But it promised residents that kerbside glass collection would be reinstated “as soon as possible” if Norse South East could recruit additional staff and vowed “this will be the last time” kerbside glass collection was suspended as many bottle banks overflowed.