LABOUR councillors have criticised the Liberal Democrat led Colchester Council for its plans to introduce garden waste charges.
The new garden waste collection service, which will launch in January, was discussed at a meeting of the council's scrutiny panel on Wednesday.
Speaking after the meeting, the Labour group’s waste spokesman Lee Scordis said: "We feel that charging people for a wheelie bin, as well as the cost of the service itself is far too big a burden in a cost-of-living crisis.
“If the Lib Dems in 2016 had followed through with plans to introduce wheelie bins across the city in areas that were appropriate for them then this cost would not be necessary. This is about fairness.”
But the Labour group came under fire after several members voted in favour of the budget which included these proposals, which was passed while Labour was in joint control of the Town Hall.
Addressing the scrutiny panel, Greenstead councillor and former mayor Tim Young explained: “Personally I’ve always been against charging for garden waste, so you may ask why I voted for the budget which included garden waste charges.
“There are three reasons. I haven’t broken the Labour whip in 31 years as a councillor and I wasn’t about to start a few months ago.
“Secondly, it’s traditional for the mayor to support a legally set budget. Thirdly and vitally, the garden waste charge was a small but very important component of an otherwise reasonable budget.
“To bring in a charge for a service which up until now has been free is difficult to justify.”
Colchester Council garden waste charges from 2024
At the meeting a council officer laid out two proposed pricing models, the first of which would see anyone joining the service pay a one-off £10 set up fee plus an additional £55 annual service charge per bin.
The 82 per cent of Colchester households currently without a wheelie bin would be charged an additional one-off fee of £30 to receive one.
An alternative proposal would instead see everyone charged a one-off joining fee of £35 in addition to the annual service charge regardless of if they currently have a wheelie bin or not.
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