CEC councillors fear a rise in rats and increased fly-tipping if charges for emptying garden waste bins are brought in, writes Belinda Ryan.
Proposals outlined in the mid-term financial strategy 2023-7 (budget) reveal Cheshire East could rake in up to £4m a year by introducing the charge.
But several councillors expressed concerns it could backfire and end up costing, rather than saving, the council money.
Cllr June Buckley (Alsager, Lib Dem) said: “I can understand why the charge is being put in but, a) we could end up with more fly-tipping which could cost the council a lot of money and, b) if people don’t use the green bin and don’t pay the charge we’re going to get more food waste again, which is blanking out one of our objectives.
“Lastly, if people do start doing massive compost heaps in their garden, we could get an increase in vermin, which would have a public health effect.”
She later added there had been issues with rats where she lived.
Cllr Tony Dean (Knutsford, Con) asked how much residents would be charged for the bin to be emptied and what the impact would be on the Leighton Grange composting site [if people refused to pay the charge and instead no longer used the garden waste bins, which are also used for food waste].
The Crewe plant, which opened a couple of years ago, processes food and garden waste for Cheshire East.
Ralph Kemp, head of environmental services, said similar authorities to Cheshire East charged in the range of £40 to £60 “but at this point we would need to develop the proposals further to come up with an actual proposed charge”.
He said the contract regarding the composting would have to be looked at again, but any compensation would be less than the amount the council would make from charging for emptying the bins.
Macclesfield councillor Ashley Farrall (Lab) said Trafford Borough Council had tried to do this before the pandemic.
“It was a massive failure and they had to completely abandon the project,” he said.
But Mr Kemp said Cheshire West & Chester had introduced the charge a year ago very successfully “with a very high uptake of residents”.
Congleton councillor Sally Holland (Con) said: “In Congleton we’ve lost our household waste recycling centre so this being introduced is a double whammy.”
She said people who didn’t want to pay the annual charge could have previously taken the waste to the tip “but they’ve not got that” and was worried this would increase fly-tipping even more.
Mr Kemp acknowledged fly-tipping was on the rise in Congleton and said officers had met with Congleton Town Council to consider how they could work together to try to reduce fly-tipping across town as they had recently done in Crewe.
The bin charging proposal comes as the council is facing a £20m funding gap for 2023/4 and has to find savings and/or increase income across all its services.
The feedback from the committee will go to Thursday’s (February 9) Cheshire East meeting of the corporate policy committee before a final decision is taken on the budget proposals at full council on February 22.
To add to Veronica’s comment. As someone who paid £38 for a garden waste bin (new build) do I get a refund for this being miss sold??
Also I pay £450 a year for maintenance on the new build estate on top of my 2.5k council tax. Do I get a refund for the fact the council refused to take on new builds and just pockets our council tax?. (I moved from another house in CEC so now I pay more and get less than i did in an 80s build… go figure!
People will just put the garden waste in the black bins instead.
The Head of Environmental Series comment “but at this point in time we would need to develop the proposals further to come up with an actual proposed charge”.
Surely they must have a figure in mind as the article states the feed back from Committee is on 9th February and to full Council on 22nd February. This gives a maximum of 9 working days to do this which is questionable as surely the report will have to be issued with proposals some days before the 22nd. The more you read about CEC the more you think are they fit for purpose? Still no date for Middlewich Road/Hospital opening when we are a quarter way through February but we have had a frost for 2 days.
Totally agree with sentiment there may be more flying tipping if charges introduced for garden waste collection. Potentially charging households between £40-£60 for garden waste (if households take up such) will only add more expense to struggling households, especially in this economic climate. I’ve had experience where my recycled bin has not been collected – do you get a ‘refund’ if your garden waste bin is not collected on its due date under this ‘potential’ new scheme.