The £60m Great British Rake Off
That’s the astonishing sum town hall chiefs have piled up simply for collecting your grass cuttings – even as council t ax bills are soaring
TOWN halls are raking in more than £60 million a year simply for collecting residents’ grass cuttings, it can be revealed.
Almost half of local authorities across England now charge households to empty garden waste bins and sacks, a Mail on Sunday investigation has found – and that’s on top of soaring council tax bills.
The ‘garden tax’ has sparked outrage among homeowners who say it is an unfair burden on the elderly who cannot avoid the charge by driving their garden waste to rubbish dumps.
Critics also say the fee is damaging to the environment as it encourages people to burn garden waste, filling residential streets with acrid, choking smoke. There is also concern it will encourage fly-tipping.
Many thousands more households will be subject to the charge when dozens of councils introduce it this week, while other local authorities are increasing bills for the service to close to £100 a year, blaming Government budget cuts.
But this newspaper can reveal that some town halls are actually making money from collecting the green waste, by turning it into compost and selling it.
Last night Conservative MP Bob Blackman, who led a parliamentary debate on the charges, said: ‘It just smacks of them finding sneaky ways to penalise people and charge on top of their council taxes.’
Last night, Richard McIlwain of Keep Britain Tidy added: ‘We are concerned that not everyone will voluntarily pay the charge and may resort to dumping garden waste in their residual waste bin or, worse, fly-tipping it.’
Until recently, many councils collected garden waste free of charge. But in the past few years, an increasing number have started to charge for the service.
A Local Government Association spokesman said: ‘ Some councils were able to provide free garden waste services when they were first introduced, but are now having to charge because of budget pressures or to reflect the growing cost of providing a collection service.’
We can reveal that residents of 148 of 326 local districts in England will have to pay for garden waste collection this year, with charges introduced in 16 areas this spring.
At least 2.6 million households are paying the ‘garden tax’, with town halls’ income from the charge totalling £61.3 million in 2016.
Households have to sign up for a full year’s collections, even though they do not use the service through the winter, and in some areas must also buy their wheelie bins. Although some local authorities i nsist they l ose money on the scheme, others have admitted they make a surplus. The biggest ‘profit’ – of £ 439,090 – was recorded in King’s Lynn & West Norfolk.
The most expensive scheme nationwide is Hart in Hampshire, which charges £99.45 for new subscribers – £ 30.60 for a bin and £68.85 for 25 collections.
Lewes Council in East Sussex charges £ 70 a year, and figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show it collected £52,000 in garden waste subscriptions last year.
Keen gardener Barbara Walter, 78, from Ringmer near Lewes, said: ‘£70 is a huge amount for pensioners for what could only be a few collections a year, because no one cuts the grass in February.’
A Lewes Council spokesman said: ‘The charge means that residents
‘It’s just a sneaky way to penalise people’ ‘Some may refuse to pay and resort to fly-tipping’
who do not have a garden, who compost at home or who do not wish to use the service, do not pay for the service through their council tax.’
Chorley Council in Lancashire is one of many to introduce garden waste collection charges this year – and blames a ‘huge funding gap’ for the ‘unpopular’ £30 bill.
Alistair Bradley, leader of the council, said: ‘ Introducing the c harge wasn’t s o mething we wanted to do but this is the effect of years of cuts to local government hitting home.’