LIB Dem councillors have expressed anger at the charges being imposed by Warrington Borough Council to collect green waste from next March.
They are particularly angered by a £3 surcharge being imposed on people who don’t pay online – which they believe could be illegal
Warrington Council says it is being forced to impose this charge due to cuts in funding from central government but has already had more than 10,000 people sign up online generating more than £300,000 additional revenue.
Brian Axcell
Liberal Democrat Environment spokesperson, Cllr Brian Axcell said: “Many people accept the Council’s principle of charging and accept that people who do not have a green bin should not subsidise people that do. However the Council is acting inconsistently because this principle does not seem to apply in the case of charging in district car parks south of the Ship Canal and for Residents’ Parking Zones.
“There is a £3 surcharge if you cannot subscribe online. This is unnecessary, unreasonable, discriminatory and therefore possibly illegal. When I pay the £30 annual Road Fund Licence on my small car the cost is the same, regardless of whether I pay on-line or by visiting my local Post Office. The same principle should apply with green waste collection. No opportunity is offered for collecting payments by direct debit, which would be another cheap option for the Council. After all most people have bank accounts. The surcharge discriminates against the elderly and disadvantaged people who do not have a computer at home, and against people with disabilities, who cannot use one.”
At the December Council meeting, Lib Dem Cllr Ian Marks asked a question about the financial case for the new charges.
He added: “I was shocked that the case approved by the Council’s Executive Board contained no financial information apart from the total cost of the green waste collection service. The Council predicts that the take-up of the new service will be only 35%. Where will the rest of the green waste go? Into black bins which they say is not allowed or fly-tipping? It admits that the savings on vehicles will be less than expected because all households in the borough will still have to be passed by.
When the Liberal Democrats led the Council we were very proud of the substantial increase in recycling rates we achieved. It now says that the new scheme will reduce rates by 2%. We don’t think that Labour has thought this change through properly.”
A Council spokesperson said: “More than ten thousand local residents have already signed up to the green waste service. This will generate more than £300,000 of income which will be used to offset budget reductions from central government that would otherwise lead to further cuts having to be made to council services.”
The council has so far had more than 10,800 applications from nearly 10,400 residents – 89.9% of which are online applications .
