Fulford Councillor Keith Aspden and Yorkshire & Humber MEP Rebecca Taylor have met with local residents to highlight growing concerns over Labour’s Green Bin charges.

Last month after a Liberal Democrat campaign, which included a petition signed by nearly 2,000 residents, proposals for a blanket charge on all green bins were scrapped. However, Labour led City of York Council pushed-on with controversial plans to end green bin collections in winter and charge residents £35 a year for each addition bin. The changes are already proving unpopular with local residents and last week Keith and Rebecca met with Fulford pensioner Christine Dinsdale to highlight the issue.

Mrs Dinsdale, of Fordlands Road, Fulford, has a large garden which requires three green bins to remove all of the green waste. Under Labour’s new rules, she will be required to pay an annual charge of £70 if she wishes for the council to continue to take away her garden waste. Mrs Dinsdale is appealing to the Council to withdraw the charge. If they do not she worries she may have no choice but to place the waste into her general waste bin or burn it, neither of which would be good for the environment.

Cllr Keith Aspden, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Fulford, commented:

“Christine is doing everything she can to reduce her garden waste including home composting. However, she is still finding that she has more than one green bin worth full every fortnight. It seems ridiculous that because of Labour’s policy she is faced with the option of having to pay to recycle, burn the waste or put garden waste into her general bin collection. This shows how ill-thought through the plans were.

“If the Council won’t cancel the charges, then at least they need to find a workable solution for vulnerable residents whether this is a bursary fund or perhaps larger green bins in specific circumstances.”

Rebecca Taylor, Liberal Democrat MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, commented:

“The previous Liberal Democrat administration increased recycling from 12% to 43% and City of York Council should now be looking to push this well above 50%. However, under Labour recycling targets are being missed and landfill tax charges are increasing. The policy of charging for green bins, along with recycling centre cuts and closures, is likely to make things even worse.”