House buyers Tammy and Darren Midgley have moved on to their new estate with a bill of more than £22 to buy their own wheelie bin - and a two-month wait to get it.

Now the couple, who will have to pay more than £1,000 a year council tax for their home in Bierley House Avenue, have complained about the double whammy to their cleansing service.

They will have to put their rubbish in plastic sacks for the next six to eight weeks while the Council waits for supplies because of the high demand from local authorities across Britain.

Mrs Midgley said they had been unable to find the right type of wheelie bins in shops and the Council had also insisted they must be green.

A decision was made behind closed doors last year to charge for wheelie bins on new housing developments and many people also have to pay for replacements where they are lost or stolen.

Director of environmental protection and waste management Richard Wixey said the Council had asked developers to provide bins and bases for them on new developments but admitted it had no powers to force the builders to carry this through.

He said the Council had drawn the line after spending millions of pounds to provide bins to almost all the district's 200,000 properties.

"They are our property and when people move out we would expect them to be left behind," he said.

"There is a waiting list because most local authorities now use them and there is an increased demand because many people now have two - including one for recycling."

He said most bins were produced in green and it was necessary to have uniform colours for the Council's collection service to distinguish between normal and recycling bins.

Today Council Labour group leader Councillor Ian Green-wood, who last year revealed that the controversial decision to charge people had been taken in secret, said the situation was "outrageous."

"We claim to be a good Council but it is totally unacceptable to be unable to properly deliver a basic service," he said.

"This decision was never properly discussed and considered at open meetings where some of these problems may have been foreseen."

Executive member for the environment Coun Anne Hawkes-worth said the Council's aim was to get developers to provide the wheelie bins.

She said she was concerned to find people were having to wait to buy them and would look into it.

Mr Midgley is pictured with some of the rubbish he is having to put in plastic sacks.