York garden waste collection: City of York Council to start charging £46.50 to collect garden waste

Based on between 25 per cent and 55 per cent take-up, the council could generate an income between £780k and £1.7m. The cost of delivering the garden waste service is approximately £1.87m per year, including disposal. Executive members of the council will vote on the proposals before it is put to the full council on February 22.

The executive will also decide whether the council should offer a 50 per cent discount on the subscription rate for the garden waste service for residents who may struggle to afford the service. Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors are expected to vote against the policy.

Conservative group leader Coun Chris Steward said: “We are still studying the budget proposals in full, but one aspect that does stand out is the charge for all green bins. We will oppose this charge, green bins are a basic service that must be provided in the already high council tax people pay and it is also a false economy to charge more if more waste will go in grey bins.”

The Liberal Democrat group leader Coun Nigel Ayre said he will present an alternative budget to the full council.

“We finally have confirmation that the Labour council bosses are going ahead with their deeply unpopular green bin tax on residents without any public consultation,” he said. “Over the past six months since this was first floated, residents have made their voices heard against this tax rise.

“More than 2,000 of York’s residents have signed our petition to stop the green bin tax, which would be an effective £43 increase in their council tax and would hit those on low incomes the hardest. As well as hitting residents in their pockets, it will be bad for the environment, with more car trips to the tip and an increase in flytipping and burning likely.”

Senior Liberal Democrat councillors will meet with council officers over the next few days to get “more concrete plans” for an alternative budget.

Executive member for environment and climate change, Coun Jenny Kent said: “Financially we are in the position of making the least worst cuts. The green waste collection scheme costs £1.75m to deliver and is a non-statutory service, which a third of the city doesn’t use or have access to.

“It is hard to justify keeping this free when we need to preserve vital services for the most vulnerable. We have worked hard to agree to a 50 per cent concession for those who can least afford it and will be promoting home composting as the most environmentally friendly and free alternative for those who don’t want to pay.

“And there is no evidence for increased fly-tipping or bonfires as some have suggested. We will be joining almost every Liberal Democrat council in the country by introducing this charge, and almost 75 per cent of all councils nationally as the government shrinks local government and what councils are able to provide”.