Garden tax sign-up targets not being met

The number of households signed up to the controversial garden waste service has “fallen massively short” of a city council’s target so far, raising questions over how much revenue the policy will bring.

The Snp-labour administration in Edinburgh had set a business case target of 56,950 households registering for the “garden tax” scheme by the time the window closes tomorrow. But as of yesterday, only 43,406 households with 47,798 bins had registered for the £25 annual charge.

The council is confident the projected number of registrations will be met by tomorrow, but so far only 35 per cent of eligible households have signed up – compared to the council’s target of 46 per cent.

Registration will re-open at intervals throughout the year, though households will have to pay the full £25 for the year ending October 2019.