The Isle of Wight Council says there was not enough demand to continue its one-off fee Christmas tree collection service and insists scrapping it has not led to a rise in fly-tipping.

Currently, only those who are signed up to the authority's garden waste subscription can have their real trees taken away by the council - unless they use services elsewhere.

In previous years, Islanders were able to pay a one-off charge to have the council collect and recycle them.

However, the service was scrapped after a 'low uptake' in January 2020 - the last year it was offered. Over the course of two weeks, the council said there were only 379 pickups across 72,000 properties.

Read more: Here's where you can recycle your Christmas tree after the holidays

Defending its decision, the council said it also did not want to 'detract' from TDG Tree Services' collection, which raises money for charity.

There were fears from some that ending the council service would lead to a rise in fly-tipping, but County Hall says that has not been the case.

A spokesperson said: "The last year we did paid-for collections (2020) there were seven green waste fly tips in January.

"The year after, when we weren’t doing the collection, there were only two green waste fly tips.

"And in January 2022, there were eight green waste fly-tips - only one more than the last paid for collection year.

"The change of service hasn’t led to an increase in Christmas tree fly-tipping.”

The council added real trees can still be taken to either Afton Marsh or Lynnbottom Tip for free, and same day bookings are available.