Open council tips so lockdown toil of gardeners isn’t wasted

Having spent the last few weeks taking advantage of the spring weather and enforced ‘lockdown’ we, like many others, have spent many hours and money preparing our gardens for bedding plants, having enriched the borders with compost etc and mowed the lawns to enable us to enjoy the fruits of our labour.

It is a disgrace to find that, having had a four-month holiday from collecting our garden waste, grass cuttings etc, the councils have decided not to collect this waste until further notice, but also to close the recycling centres which we have used throughout their holiday period.

I have taken upwards of 50 bags of leaves and grass cuttings (we have cut our lawns four times since February).

Their argument is that collection of garden waste is a ‘free service to council tax payers’ but is obviously over-priced at that and definitely not a service if it is not fulfilled.

The second part is the unfairness of current legislations which prevent garden centres from opening to sell their abundant stock of Easter flower arrangements and bedding plants, hanging baskets etc whilst allowing hardware stores, which have a garden department attached, to sell plants quite freely.

This, too, is wrong.

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