Harlow has highest charge for garden waste in the country says report
News / Tue 26th Jun 2018 am30 08:53am
HARLOW Council has the highest charge for collecting council waste in the country reports the BBC.
UK councils are charging almost £74m a year between them for garden waste collection.
Data collected by BBC One’s Rip Off Britain revealed that more than half of councils had introduced charges.
Residents’ green waste was previously paid for through the council tax by most local authorities.
The Local Government Association said councils were forced to charge because they face a £5bn shortfall in funding from central government.
Rip Off Britain gathered responses under the Freedom of Information Act from 322 of the 326 UK local authorities responsible for waste collection. It found that 172 charged to pick up garden waste.
The total charges for green waste collection have risen from £42.3m in 2014-15 to £56.9m in 2015-16, the data showed.
And in 2016-17, the charges hit a total of £73.9m.
Presenter Gloria Hunniford said: “While clearly some of our viewers are unhappy their garden waste is no longer taken away for free, the results of our survey show it’s unlikely that’s going to change any time soon.
“And with further councils set to introduce such charges, even more of us will need to get used to paying to have our grass clippings taken away.”
A spokesman for the Local Government Association said that local councils had been forced to introduce charges because of cuts to funding by central government.
“Councils in England face an overall funding gap that will exceed £5bn by 2020,” he said.
“Some councils were able to provide free garden waste services when they were first introduced but are now having to charge to reflect the growing cost of providing a collection service.”
The charges for green waste collection represent an average cost to residents of £42.40 a year.
But the programme found that prices vary hugely. Harlow in Essex had the highest average cost at £96 a year, followed by Arun in West Sussex at £86 a year.
The lowest average costs were £18 a year in Monmouthshire and £22 a year in Richmond, North Yorkshire.
MickyB77
2018-06-26 09:17:17
I pay £100.00 a year but never use the wretched service? Where's the caring, (sharing your hardship too), mob that are running this council ? Didn't they recently increase their allowances ? Really, did we expect any more ?
JerryFromQueens
2018-06-26 17:01:55
Garden waste disposal is a specialist skill and needs to be funded accordingly. Cuts from central government being blamed on the local authority is like a short cut to thinking. Do your research and you won't look like a fool.
MickyB77
2018-06-27 12:48:13
Specialists. Green waste needs common sense, that's why most gardeners compost or burn. Cuts by the government ! ykw is even more estranged from normality. Most of the waste is generally shredded and used as a mulch. Not a gardener then, no high rise window boxes?
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