People in Huntingdonshire will have to pay £57.50 a year from next April if they want their garden waste to still be collected.
Huntingdonshire District Council’s cabinet agreed to implement the new charge from April 1, 2024 at a meeting this week (July 18).
The planned new charge has faced backlash, with opposition councillors labelling it a ‘new tax burden’.
The leader of the district council, Cllr Sarah Conboy, said she “wished there had been any other viable solution”.
The current plans for the garden waste subscription service will see people pay a £57.50 annual charge to continue having their green bin collected.
Additional bins are proposed to cost £30 each, with each household allowed a maximum of four bins.
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The district council has previously said that it was facing a £1.4million deficit without introducing the new charge.
Cllr Martin Hassall, executive councillor for corporate and shared services, said he acknowledged the proposals were “not going to be the most popular”.
He said charging to collect the green bins would enable the district council to “protect the service for those residents who wish to use it”.
Cllr Hassall said an equality impact assessment had been carried out after concerns were raised at a previous council meeting as to how the change would impact people on lower incomes.
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He highlighted that the report recommended help to be offered through the council tax support scheme.
Cllr Stephen Ferguson, the executive councillor for customer services, said a review had been planned and that the district council is proposing to offer a 100 per cent council tax discount for the “most disadvantaged”.
He said previously the maximum discount offered was 80 per cent, apart from specific exemptions, and said the “most vulnerable with the least resources still had to pay 20 per cent”.
Cllr Ferguson said planned changes to the council tax support scheme would be the “most effective” way to support people, rather than through changes to the green bin charge.
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He added that the proposed discount could not be done “without the financial security of having a balanced budget”, which he said the green bin charge would help provide.
Cllr Lara Davenport-Ray, the executive councillor for climate and environment, said the decision to approve the green bin charge was “probably the most difficult decision” the cabinet had made.
She said she had been “shocked” when first presented with the proposals, but said she believed the authority needed to make supporting people “in crisis and those likely to fall into crisis” the priority.
Cllr Davenport-Ray said she had asked for other options to be looked at, but they had not offered the same amount of savings.
She said she preferred “trialling a subscription service” rather than “cutting it all together”.
The cabinet said it planned to consult with people in the district as well as parish councils as to how the scheme will be put in place.
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