COUNCIL leaders have refused to rule out hiking garden waste collection fees by 150 per cent from £30 to £75 for South Gloucestershire residents.
A political row broke out after the authority’s new Lib Dem/Labour coalition insisted it would “not prejudge” public consultation being launched this summer by making such a promise.
It also added that the former Tory administration routinely made decisions even before asking the public for feedback, which it then ignored.
At a meeting on Monday, June 19, South Gloucestershire Council cabinet, comprising of five Liberal Democrats and four Labour members, approved the general idea for how the current 25-year waste contract with Suez will be replaced when it expires in July 2025.
It includes potential huge increases in charges for garden waste, a new £25 fee for replacement bins and reductions in black bin collections to every three or even four weeks.
The council says the measures are necessary because, even having chosen the cheapest option – outsourcing kerbside collections to a private operator while bringing recycling centres and other work back in-house – it faces a £4.7million annual funding shortfall for the service.
Conservative shadow member for education, skills, employment and business Cllr Erica Williams told the meeting: “While I appreciate that nothing has been decided yet and that the revenue-raising proposals in the report are merely suggestions at this stage, it’s nonetheless alarming to see the garden waste collection charge could be raised to as much as £75.
“Considering the constraints on residents’ finances at the moment, can the cabinet member today conclusively rule out raising the charge to £75, especially considering that we took the decision in February not to raise it to the proposed £50?”
Labour cabinet member for communities and local place Cllr Leigh Ingham replied: “I don’t want to prejudge anything that’s going to be taking place over the summer, so there will be no commitments today or any other meetings before we’ve started to hear what the public want to focus on.
“Our top priority is listening to the public.”
Lib Dem cabinet member for climate and nature emergency Cllr Louise Harris said: “I’m a bit concerned by the collective amnesia we seem to have on the part of Conservative colleagues opposite when this is merely a continuation of a piece of work that was presented to their cabinet on October 10, 2022.
“I was in meetings only this year on both February 8 and March 20 when this was all discussed in huge detail and previous meetings before that, so what’s in this report should not have come as a shock to anybody.
“It is a report that is for consideration and consultation.
“One thing that we heard many times in the recent election was that residents felt they were not listened to, that council consultations weren’t thorough, that decisions had been made before the consultation had even started.
“I’m happy to confirm that our top priority for this paper will actually be having a genuine meaningful consultation with residents and taking account of what they are saying while accepting – and I hate to quote the current Prime Minister – there is no magic money tree, as he said only yesterday.”
Lib Dem cabinet member for planning, regeneration and infrastructure Cllr Chris Willmore said Tory questions at the meeting sought to “obtain the text for a press release that would say, ‘Nasty, wicked administration won’t rule out £75 charges for green bins’”.
She said the Conservatives did not rule out the proposed increases when they controlled the council.
“It has been in this document every time their administration considered it,” Cllr Willmore said.
“We are not ruling it out any more than they did.”
Opposition Tory group leader Cllr Sam Bromiley said afterwards: “It’s very disappointing that the Labour/Lib Dem coalition categorically refused to take off the table a possible increase in the garden waste collection charge to £75.
“Earlier this year, South Glos Council’s Conservative administration froze the charge at an affordable £30, and we would have ensured that any future rise would have been minimal.
“It’s astonishing, therefore, that just one month into the life of the new coalition its members are progressing plans to implement what amounts to a 150 per cent rise in the annual fee.
“Instead of simply pushing ever-increasing costs onto residents, the coalition should be exploring the use of innovations in technology to help deliver services at affordable prices.”
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