The decision to flog off trade rubbish collection services in Spelthorne was slammed as "asset stripping" used to "mask incompetence".

Spelthorne Council agreed to sell its commercial waste division to SITA for £311,000 - a decision that was kept confidential from residents - believing the industry had become overly competitive and was best left to specialists.

Council leader John Packman said: "We are selling off the commercial waste business because the council will benefit by allowing us to concentrate on our core strategy of focusing on rubbish and recycling services.

"In entering into an agreement with SITA for the collection of commercial waste the council can now move forward and because of the competitive nature of waste collection the council felt it was prudent to sell to specialists."

But opposition leader Councillor Colin Strong hit out at the sale of an industry, which nets Spelthorne between £25,000 and £45,000 a year.

He said: "The concern I have with this sale is that, yet again, the Conservatives are using the money to finance current expenditure.

"This asset stripping by the Tories has been going on for some years and is being used to mask their incompetence in getting to grips with a hole in their budget now standing at £1.4million.

"The money raised from the sale should be used for other capital projects to benefit Spelthorne residents."

SITA UK purchased Spelthorne Trade Waste at the end of January taking over the refuse services of about 400 existing customers.

Industrial and commercial operations director David Palmer-Jones said: "The transition from the council to SITA UK has gone smoothly and for all our new customers it has been business as usual.

"This is a positive move for our new customers in Spelthorne and will help them to manage their waste more sustainably.

"For SITA UK this enables us to further develop our existing industrial and commercial business in the area."