Councils should be held accountable for their actions or in this case their non-actions.
In my city Sheffield , as it would appear in some other areas, they made plans for the Christmas and New Year holidays, by collecting refuse from household on other days when the normal collection would have been affected.
The current government would appear to wish that all councils collect refuse on a weekly basis, to me the answer is simple.  If councils will not do it, then the government should take over the collection of refuse from these councils and reduce the money allocated to them accordingly.
The only saving grace is that these holidays are in Winter and not Summer, when ever that is and therefore the effect of heat on the rubbish  to create more of a health hazard, is minimal.