Birmingham City Council has declared a major incident over the ongoing bin strike and said that picket lines blocking its depots are preventing waste vehicles from collecting rubbish.

A backlog of a staggering 17,000 tonnes of waste remains uncollected across the city, after months of strikes from council waste workers.

Strikes throughout the West Midlands city began back in January, with workers protesting against pay cuts on set isolated days.

However, on March 11, almost 400 workers walked out indefinitely and have not returned since.

Unite Union has warned that bin disruption could stretch into the summerPA

The local authority said that it has a contingency plan where they collect rubbish from all properties across the cities in the case of industrial action.

However, the blocking of its depots by pickets has prevented them from doing so.

This has resulted in workers being able to access their vehicles in order to collect waste from residents.

By declaring a major incident, the council has given themselves leeway to bring in more help from outside agencies to collect rubbish.

A backlog of a staggering 17,000 tonnes of waste remains uncollected across the city

Since January, there have been various strikes from council bin workers protesting against pay cutsPA

Councillor John Cotton, leader of Birmingham City Council, said: "It is regrettable that we have had to take this step, but we cannot tolerate a situation that is causing harm and distress to communities across Birmingham.

"I respect the right to strike and protest, however actions on the picket line must be lawful and sadly the behaviour of some now means we are seeing a significant impact on residents and the city and it's environment.

He continued: “Unless we declare a major incident and deploy the waste service’s contingency plan, then we would be unable to clear the backlog of waste on the streets or improve the frequency of collections.

“I want to thank residents for their continued patience under difficult circumstances and the community groups who have been working hard within their communities to help with clear-up.

“I would reiterate that we have made a fair and reasonable offer to our workers which meansnone of them have to lose any money and I would urge Unite to reconsider their position.”