Residents in Craven could see the cost of having their garden waste wheelie bin emptied rise by 20 percent when the new North Yorkshire Council takes over from Craven District Council this year.
It is part of efforts to bring collection charges into line across the county when the new authority takes over the work of the seven councils that will cease to exist from April.
Should North Yorkshire County Council’s proposals be approved by its executive next week (10th January), and then by district and borough councils, residents in Hambleton, Ryedale, Scarborough, Harrogate and Craven will face an annual charge of £43.50 for garden waste collections from next month.
Bringing the charges into line will mean Craven residents paying an extra 20.8 per cent (up from the current £36 to £43.50) for the service and North Yorkshire council receiving an extra £350,000 of income.
However, as Richmondshire residents have 140-litre bins as opposed to 240-litre bins elsewhere, they should only be charged £25.50 this year to allow time for their bins to be replaced. And as Selby District Council has not charged for garden waste collections, the proposals state residents there will not face charges yet until a consultation has taken place.
An officer’s report to the executive states: “Charges have been frozen for several years for most authorities and therefore now is a good time to review the charges. It is also a good time to harmonise the charge ahead of the formation of North Yorkshire Council such that it is fair to all residents across the county.
“The most recent data indicates that taking inflation into account the average cost in the Yorkshire and Humber region was around £44 for fortnightly collections. Set in this context the proposal of harmonising at £43.50 is reasonable.
“Garden waste collections are not statutory services, but are valued by tens of thousands of households across the county who have been paying for their permit for many years. As a non-statutory service, it is not fair for people who do not use the service to have to subsidise it.”
The report highlights “there is potential to lose some subscribers as a result of any increase in fees and charges”, but says those residents who do not renew the subscription typically choose to compost at home instead.
The authority’s Green Party group leader, Councillor Andy Brown, said: “In principle councils should be paying residents to do the right thing, instead of charging them for doing the right thing.
“However, the reality is all councils are broke and the new unitary council does create some clumsy standardisation necessities.”
Coun Brown, who represents residents in the Aire Valley who are facing garden waste fee rises of more than 20 per cent, said while the authority had made an effort to cushion the jolt of standardising council tax demands across the county, “very few people are in the position where they can put up with any increases in any bills”.
He added: “I think the charge increases will be a difficult one to swallow. There’s always a risk of when you increase charges for doing the right thing you increase fly-tipping.”
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