Cheshire East Council could fail to rake in the £4m it hoped from its garden waste collections because less than two thirds of residents needed have so far subscribed, writes Belinda Ryan.
As from this month, garden waste will only be collected if residents have paid the new annual £56 subscription fee.
That fee could rise to £59 next year as the £3 increase is one of the proposals put forward in the 2024/25 budget consultation, which residents can comment on now.
Cllr Mick Warren, who chairs Cheshire East’s environment and communities committee, remains hopeful the council will reach its target.
In a statement to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Cllr Warren (Macclesfield, Ind) said: “As set out in the council’s adopted medium-term financial strategy, our garden waste recycling scheme has a total income target of £4.05m, with £900,000 of this income budgeted for in 2023/24.
“So far, almost 56,000 households have subscribed to the scheme – against the 90,000 subscriptions needed to meet the total MTFS income target – which equates to an income of around £3.15m to date.”
He added: “During December and so far this month, we have seen an increase in the rate of subscriptions to the scheme and we expect this trend to continue as garden bin collections restart over the next couple of weeks and we move towards spring and the growing season.”
Residents wishing to opt-in to the scheme who have not yet done so, can find more information here: cheshireeast.gov.uk/gardenbin
Residents not able to sign up online can contact the council on 0300 123 5011.
Firstly, No, it should not be added to everyones tax bill, why the hell should it. Not everyone has a garden. What a really ignorant comment to make.
Secondly, your being penalised for having a garden, and people don’t even realise it. What will they charge us for next, fresh air tax, toilet tax perhaps, what about a tax for the privilege of being alive.
so a truck starts the route and now picks up less than two third the usual bins, does this mean the staff wages are two thirds less and the route two thirds less, no it doesn’t, so where is the cost saving??
Let’s stop rolling over for this inept Council and giving them what they ask for. They have gambled with tax payers money and failed, we are now suffering because of their incompetence.
We should all stop paying our direct debit and only pay for the services we are actually getting. They haven’t got any money to take us to court so let’s stand up to them.
So thay say thay care about the environment, do thay heak as do thay are forceing people with gardens only to pay for there bin to be emptied, this charge is unfair if you are going to charge extra tax you can’t just charge one group of people. thay should have put the extra tax on to the con tax bill which every one pays. All this do will make people who don’t agree with the tax charge to fly tip which cost more to remove or put it in to the black bin as the rules say as long as it’s in a bin bag you can throw everything apart from battery’s or old car oil and there is nothing saying U can’t put garden waste in to a bag and put it in to ur black bin which is what I do I now throw more things away which I once recycled but iam not paying extra taxs because the council has mismanaged its finances and thay can’t even fix the roads so I feel the con tax I pay is more then fair and enough given its rises every year by 5 percent at the end of the day it’s a sur charge next will be recycle bin or black bin charges again if they introduce a charge for recycling then in the black bin it gos and if thay charge for black bins then I will fill it full even if that means me recycling less and putting it in the black bin if iam forced to pay for bin collections then I will make sure I get what I pay for oh thay are at some point going to move black bin collections to every 3weeks or even monthly wonder why eh funny how thay are talking of doing it now after the new charges it’s because thay knew that people like me won’t pay so thay try to make it harder for you by makeing it so your bin gets full so U can’t put things in it but where there is a will there is a way and if I have to I will burn the paper and cardboard or shread it up so it all fits in the bin that’s my rant on this matter.
I tried to book it for the waste service for several bins in the block of apartments that I manage. I was told that they dont do flats!
not very bright are Cheshire East, treat us like kids that are told certain privileges they took previously for granted and free are now to be paid for as an extra. If they had any sense they would have included it in the council tax extra charges that we now have, then there would be one less argument, everyone will pay job done, target reached
Projected revenue is currently not reaching its target of 4.05m – “So far, almost 56,000 households have subscribed to the scheme – against the 90,000 subscriptions needed to meet the total MTFS income target – which equates to an income of around £3.15m to date.”
Again, 2025 likely to increase the £56 fee to £59.00. What figure does this stop at over the ensuing years.
Other issue, you can put food waste into garden bin, but if you opt out of not paying for garden waste collection, you can put your food wastage into your black bin (or compost if that’s possible). Wasn’t that new recycling centre the purpose of garden/food waste. So food waste now goes into landfill for those opting out the new scheme.
My advice is don’t, you can clearly see that they plan to put the price up year on year to support the total shortcomings of an inept council.
It will only be wasted and not invested in the right areas, I have no faith in this lot.