Don’t leaf it too late to opt in for garden waste collections
GREEN fingered residents are being advised to opt in now for a new garden waste collection service if they want to take advantage of a one off discount and avoid a trip to the tip.
From January 2017 the collection of garden waste from households in the Lancaster district will become a subscription-only service.
Residents can now opt in for the new service by visiting www.lancaster.gov.uk/garden-waste and to ensure they do not miss a collection will need to sign up by January 6.
Until March 31 2017 the service is available at the discounted cost of £30 per bin for an up to 15 month service.
After this date the cost rises to £37.50 for a subscription until the end of March 2018.
The charge is being introduced to plug a budget black hole that will see the costs of collecting household waste boom from £2.85 million to £4.14 million over the next few years.
This is as a result of losing funding from Lancashire County Council towards the recycling service, along with ongoing reductions in funding from central government.
Similar charges have been recently introduced elsewhere in Lancashire by both Preston City Council and Wyre Borough Council and more than 50,000 residents have signed up to the schemes in these two areas.
Future subscriptions are likely to be £40 per bin in 2018/19 (subject to Budget approval), but this would still be lower than many of the 42% of all councils in the country who now charge for the collection of garden waste. The average cost across the country is £41.22.
Coun Brendan Hughes, Cabinet member with responsibility for Environmental Services, said: “It’s regrettable, but necessary, that we have had to bring in this charge. Contrary to popular belief, council tax has only ever paid for a proportion of our costs and we’ve always relied on extra grants to run many of our services, including the collection of garden waste.
“These grants have been cut to the bone and the unprecedented cuts we are faced with mean we need to find a way to plug the £1.2million gap in our finances for household waste collection.
“The only alternative would be to stop providing the service altogether, which we don’t want to do because we know how valued it is, or make cuts elsewhere.
“I have to stress that the charge is entirely discretionary so if someone doesn’t want to pay they don’t, and can take up alternatives such as home composting or visit one of the household waste recycling centres to dispose of their household waste.”
During November households will receive a leaflet with details of the service, including frequently asked questions and how to sign up.
For more information on the new garden waste collection service and details of how to opt in visit www.lancaster.gov.uk/garden-waste
Last updated: 03 November 2016