Controversial charges brought in by Angus Council to collect garden waste will come into force in July.
The local authority announced the July 4 start date on their website today in the wake of “severe budgetary constraints” — sparking a furious reaction from local council tax payers.
Charging for the collection of garden waste is common practice in England and Wales but there are no councils in Scotland that currently do so.
A statement on the website reads: “From Monday July 4, if you want us to continue collecting your garden waste, you will need to sign up and pay for the service.
“We recognise the benefits our garden waste collection service has for us all, but severe budgetary constraints mean that we can no longer provide this non-statutory service free of charge.
“So we are switching to a subscription service, which was felt to be a better alternative to ending garden waste collections altogether.
“We have kept the charge per bin as low as possible with the aim of only recovering the costs to the council for garden waste collection.”
Anyone who wants to continue to receive the service from July 4 will need to pay the annual fee of £25 by debit or credit card by June 24.
We are switching to a subscription service, which was felt to be a better alternative to ending garden waste collections altogether.
Residents can do this by signing up on the dedicated garden waste page of the council’s website with no concessions and no rebates.
A subscription can be cancelled up to 14 days after signing up with a full refund given but there is no refund for pulling the plug at any time thereafter.
The statement continued: “We’ll be in touch in due course with residents who do not wish to be a part of the new subscription service to let them know when we can uplift unwanted garden waste bins.
All that will happen is fly-tipping will sky rocket costing them even more to tidy up then they’ll be onto plan Z which will be more absurd.
“Alternatively, households can keep their bin for storage of garden waste.”
The statement caused anger amongst many council tax payers when it was put up on the local authority’s Facebook page.
One resident said: “So does that mean we will get a reduction in our council tax as you’ve just canned a service we have already paid for..and don’t insult us by saying it’s free..nothing is free when it comes to the council.
“This service is part of what we have paid for and was budgeted for this year’s bill.
“Maybe we should look at the expenses and privileges councillors are taking and see if we can save money there.
“Heaven forbid that you should look at your own house first.”
Another said: “It won’t last. All that will happen is fly-tipping will sky rocket costing them even more to tidy up then they’ll be on to plan Z which will be more absurd.
“The lunatics have well and truly taken over the madhouse.”
