Residents are facing highest charges on green waste in the North West to reduce costs.
Cheshire East Council, run by the Labour/Independent Group coalition, is claiming a £20m funding gap that it needs to fill. The proposal to bring in a £56 annual charge for collecting garden waste bins was narrowly approved at the Environment Committee by seven Labour and Independent councillors. (All 5 Conservatives voted against and one Labour Councillor abstained).
Conservative Councillors and residents attended the meeting to speak against the proposal.
Cllr Liz Wardlaw (Odd Rode Ward) spoke against the proposal stating that it was
“premature when the National Environment Bill is still to decide on the disposal of food waste (that is currently collected with green waste in the green bins).”
Conservative Group Leader, Cllr Janet Clowes (Wybunbury Ward) asked the administration how it could
“justify the proposed income of between £11m and £21m (dependent on take-up of the Green Bin Collection Service being between 60% and 100%) when the current service costs only £4.4m per annum.
Whilst the administration claim a £20m funding gap, this must be set against the current £20m of unclaimed Council Tax debt and other proposed savings in the MTFS.
So too, proposed service cuts and charges must be set against the millions of pounds received by CEC from Central Government; the most recent being £2,206,178 for Adult Social Care (Adult Social Care Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund - Workforce Fund: 28.07.2023)”
The garden waste collection scheme is set to open for registrations in October and come into force from January.
The £56 annual cost would be higher than any other north-west council charges for the collections.
