FURIOUS green-fingered residents from across the borough have vented their fury after Stockport Council sent letters to them saying their green bin collection had been withdrawn.

The householders from areas including Brinnnington and the Heatons, were sent personally addressed cards informing them: "We are sorry we can’t provide a garden waste collection service at your property."

And in the cards - which the council now admits were sent in error - residents were further advised to compost it, or take it to a household waste recycling centre or "put your garden waste in your (blue) bin bag with your general waste".

Mrs Beryl Shufflebotham, of Goyt Crescent, who won garden of the year with Stockport Council three years ago, was outraged by the notice.

She explained: "I am so angry about this. We are all gardening mad down here and the green bin system is a lifesaver. Before the bins came along most of the garden waste was tipped on nearby derelict land.

"I would be completely devastated if they were to scrap this service, and I would definitely stop recycling in protest."

Jeff Eno, of Broadstone Hall Road North, Heaton Chapel, (pictured) said: "To my utter dismay I discover that Stockport Council has decided to suddenly stop providing a garden waste collection at my property and others in this area. What happened to the Council’s green recycling policy?"

A Council spokesman said: "Around 1,000 households across the borough that receive the garden waste service have been sent incorrect versions of a calendar that suggests they will no longer receive the service.

"We can confirm that all households currently on the garden waste service will not see any changes to that service, and there are no plans for it to be withdrawn or for the collection days to change. We apologise to those residents who were sent the incorrect version of the calendar. The incorrect ones were intended for residents in flats and houses not currently part of the garden waste collection scheme.A small percentage of the total distributed contained an error, which was due to incorrect data supplied by the previous holders of the waste management contract."

The leader of the Labour group on Stockport Council Coun Peter Scott said: "I am happy to to quoted on the fact that this is yet another council cock-up."

Coun Les Jones, the leader to the Tory group said: "Following on so soon after see-through bin bag fiasco, the Council has made another mess of waste services provided to residents.

"The wrong postcards have been sent out to thousands of households across the borough. While I accept that mistakes can happen, it just goes to show that under this Liberal Democrat Council there don’t appear to be adequate systems in place to prevent such a disastrous error. A considerable amount of expense and taxpayers money will go into correcting this."