Bid to introduce green-waste 'tax' across Wealden
COUNCIL officers want to bring in a £40 charge for collecting garden waste from homes across Wealden.
Weeks after boasting about freezing council tax, Wealden District Council is considering whether to introduce an annual fee for picking up grass cuttings and hedge trimmings.
Under the plan, those who refuse the charge – equivalent to a 23 per cent rise in the authority's share of council tax – would no longer get their garden waste collected.
Residents have warned the fee, which has already been dubbed a "terraced tax" as it will hit those with gardens too small for a compost heap, will simply put them off recycling.
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Paul Walters, from Western Road in Crowborough, fumed: "It's an absolute disgrace. How can you ask people to pay to recycle?"
Keen gardener Pete Bridges from Green Lane said: "It's pretty cheeky. I pay council tax, and they want me to take garden waste to the tip myself."
The district's most senior councillors were due to discuss the idea at Wednesday's cabinet meeting, but quickly dropped the item when they became aware of hostility to the plan.
Council leader Bob Standley said on Tuesday: "We are trying to get more information so councillors are clear on the pluses and minuses of the project."
District councillor Antony Quin, from Beacon Gardens in Crowborough, admitted that the idea was bound to affect people living in towns more than those in the countryside with larger homes.
Garden waste collections are currently paid for as part of Wealden District Council's £174 share of council tax, but officers at Pine Grove recommended the new charge as it could rake in £1 million extra revenue and save a further £1 million in collection costs.
It was prompted by the council's decision to merge bin collections with three other councils.
Phil Witten, chairman of the residents' group at Kings Court flats in Mill Lane, said: "People aren't going to pay up to £40 on top of their council tax. They'll start dumping it wherever they can.
"We already find quite a few Christmas trees in hedges and on the grass. This idea is not going to work."
Special report pages 4&5
Comments
by Crowperson
Sunday, April 29 2012, 11:22AM
“There will be an awful lot more bonfires in Wealden if this charge goes through.”
by MrSwing
Friday, April 27 2012, 3:45PM
“The solution is to charge the council £40 for allowing them to store their bins on your property.
Other than that turn your green wheelie bin into another landfill bin and bag up your green waste in bags and senf them to landfill.Simples.”
by shooter73
Friday, April 27 2012, 2:34PM
“Alternatively, by all means charge for green waste. But return to good-old weekly refuse collections which the green collection replaced.I would happily compost my green cutting in return for having domestic waste removed every 7 days.”
by shooter73
Friday, April 27 2012, 2:31PM
“Will taxpayers who don't use the service be offered a £40 rebate on their council tax? Seems fair enough. Otherwise, how can this be seen as anything other than a bare-faced theft of £40 of council tax from each and every citizen who currently enjoys free green collection? Just because the privatised contractors in Eastbourne get away with it, doesn't mean Wealden - who currently enjoys a FAR HIGHER LEVEL OF SERVICE can.”