Last ditch attempt to bin controversial garden waste charges in Flintshire defeated

Following a lengthy and sometimes heated debate, members of Flintshire Council's environment overview and scrutiny committee voted in favour of moving forward with the introduction of a £30 annual charge for the removal of garden waste from April after the authority’s cabinet decision was called in.

Cllrs Mike Peers, Richard Jones, Dave Mackie, Dennis Hutchinson and Clive Carver co-signed a letter calling for December’s decision to be looked at again.

But members voted 10-4 in favour of upholding the original decision made last month, with one abstention.

Cllr Aaron Shotton, leader of Flintshire Council, said there was “nowhere else to go” to find the money required to plug the council’s budget gap “without making cuts”.

Cllr Carolyn Thomas, cabinet member for Streetscene and environment, reiterated her stance on not wanting to introduce the charges but said it was necessary “because of austerity”.

Steve Jones, chief officer for Streetscene and transportation, said the introduction of a tariff would allow other funds to be used elsewhere and protect the authority from future cuts.

The scheme, which will go live from April, is based on an assumption 40 per cent of households sign up to Flintshire Council’s revised tariffed collection scheme, up to £958,000 could be made by the authority.

It is thought £828,000 could be brought in through implementing an annual charge of £30 per brown bin of garden waste, while another £130,000 could come in through operational savings.

Setting out their reasoning for calling in the proposals, Cllr Mike Peers said there was no guarantee targets set out would be met and that the proposals did not align with Welsh Government blue print on waste collections as it doesn't promote home composting.

He added it was not practical, as had been previously suggested, for some to take their waste to household recycling centres and no alternatives had been provided.

Cllr Peers, leader of the largest opposition group – Independent Alliance – cited a Leader poll that found 88 per cent of responders were against the fee and said the plans had not catered for “financially challenged, disabled or those without transport” nor did they “do anything for the most vulnerable or cover the concerns of the committee”.

He said to charge £30 is “completely disproportionate” and unreasonable.

Cllr Richard Jones said that in comparison to neighbouring authorities, based on bin sizes, residents in Flintshire were being charged up to two-and-a-half times more than their counterparts per litre.

“You can’t expect residents to pay two times what others are paying,” he said.

He described the proposals as “not sound judgement” and expected take up to be “much lower” than anticipated by officers.

Cllr Jones added it was “another tax or the elderly, vulnerable and infirm” and to impose it would be “absolutely unfair.”

Cllr Hutchinson said he would likely pay the £30 charge but had signed the call-in to support those who could not, or couldn’t dispose of their waste by other means.

Cllr Mackie said he felt the reports given to the scrutiny committee and the cabinet had clear differences while Cllr Carver felt the plans “should go back to cabinet and be fully thought out”.

In response, Colin Everett, Flintshire Council chief executive said the authority had not had to make decisions like this before “because of the national financial situation”.

Mr Everett said the council had promoted composting and whether they could do more “was another debate”.

He said the cost of the fee equated to “well below £1 a week” and the authority had drawn on external support over its fee and charging procedure.

Cllr Thomas said reduction in funding nationally had impacted on how Flintshire was required to introduce charges.

She said: “I said in the [scrutiny] meeting I didn’t want to introduce the charges. Thirty pounds can be a lot for some people and there’s an inconvenience in making frequent trips.

“It is because of austerity.

“We look at what is in front of us, education is cut to the bone, we’re desperately trying to keep our care homes. It is all on the table.

“I know these charges aren’t supposed to subsidise other services, but you only have a certain pot of money.

“The most important thing is that the cost is the collection of the waste, not the size of the bin.”

Steve Jones, chief officer for Streetscene and transportation, said the Welsh Government blueprint advised local authorities to charge for non-statutory services and the issue was about charging “what is the right amount”.

He said: “What we’re suggesting will cover the costs of providing the service and allow Welsh Government money to be used elsewhere and protect us against future cuts.”

On the provision for those who may be vulnerable and/or elderly, Mr Jones said officers would “need to understand if we have created a problem by analysing the take up in the first 12 months” and it was important for them to review progress for the second year.

Council leader Cllr Shotton said the prospect of a fee was “more palatable than cuts to education” and the cabinet was not prepared to see more cuts in services to balance the budget.

He said: “It is a fact that we have a budget gap and would have to find £1m from elsewhere.

“There is a common acceptance in this council that there is nowhere else to go without making cuts to find that amount of money.”

In response to reductions for the elderly, Cllr Shotton said the issue of concessions is an important one and something the council needed “to be mindful of”.

Committee members had their say on the debate with Cllr Dave Healey suggesting Flintshire Council had reached a “watershed” of austerity, while Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Chris Dolphin, suggested the Labour-led authority were “squeezing as much as you can” from residents to fund a “new cash cow”.

Cllr Colin Legg, of Halkyn, suggested there were “more important things to discuss as a council” and felt the “more than 80 hours” that had been spent on the matter was too long.

A recorded vote went in favour of the committee, indicating the decision should be implemented as originally agreed by cabinet in December.

l Leader Comment – page 13.