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Gardeners hit out at council for brown bin ‘stealth tax’


By Will Clark

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GARDENERS have branded moves to introduce charges to collect and empty garden waste bins as a “step backwards” to promoting recycling in Caithness.

From July, it will cost householders £30 to have the contents of their brown bins taken away over the summer in a move which is part of Highland Council’s bid to counter a projected black hole in its finances.

An online petition has been started up in protest, with one Highland councillor dubbing the fee a “stealth tax”.

The move comes as householders will have to pay at least three per cent extra in council tax from April while street cleaning and grass cutting are being pruned back to save cash. At present, the brown bin service is free to the 67,000 households throughout the Highlands.

Reay and District Gardening Club chairman Mike Potts hit out at what he claims will have a negative impact on the recycling drive in Caithness and elsewhere in the Highlands. He said people already pay for the service through their council tax.

“I think it is a retrograde move which will not encourage people to look after their gardens,” he said.

“If people either pay it or are forced to take it to Janetstown, it will put them off gardening and we will end up with more untidy gardens.

“We are trying to encourage people to recycle and there are other ways to raise money – this is not the wisest thing to attempt.

“As someone who is interested in the environment, I don’t think this is a good idea.

“People are enthusiastic to support recycling but this is a step backwards and to charge extra for brown bin uplifting is wrong.

“It should not be an additional charge – it should be just as it was.”

Wick Flower Baskets Group committee member Doreen Turner accepts savings need to be found to the local authority but fears the charge will undermine recycling initiatives which are under way.

She said: “I am disappointed to hear this as we don’t receive much for paying our council tax as it is.

“We receive different bins to put on different days for recycling.

“But I feel there will be people who will put their garden waste in the residential waste bins, which goes against recycling initiatives.

“We are being told to recycle and now they are slapping a charge for us to do it.

“There are cuts Highland Council have to make, but I’m not sure this is one that will suit everybody.”

Mrs Turner added: “Pensioners will feel the charge hardest as they might have to pay for someone to do their garden and then have to pay another charge for their gardening waste to be collected.”

Council officials are gearing up for a minimum three month “mobilisation” after the July launch of the new charge to allow payment details and collection routes to be finalised.

They claim the charge is at the lower end of tariffs brought in by other authorities with the average fee for taking away garden waste in England being £42. The experience of other councils, they add, is that there has been no significant increase in waste diverted to residential bins or a noticeable rise in flytipping. Based on a 30 per cent uptake, the new charge is projected to net the council £600,000.

An online petition has been launched against the £30 charge.

Among the early signatories is Inverness West councillor Allan Duffy who wrote: “As I already commented in the full council, I am opposed to this charge.

“It may only work out to be eight pence a day but this I feel is a stealth tax as people are already being charged for the uplift of their bins.

“I will be writing to the council leader and speaking with the council lawyers.”


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