With high temperatures continuing and both hedges and lawns continuing to grow, the York Council has come under increased pressure to make at least one additional green bin emptying visit before Christmas.
All the opposition groups on the Council have written to the responsible Cabinet member (Cllr Merrett) asking for the green bins to be emptied. Labour scrapped the emptying of green bins last year leaving residents without a service between November and March.
An electronic petition is being raised in support of the change
The move is backed by Liberal Democrat Councillors who have issued a statement saying
“We are calling on the Labour Cabinet to organise an additional citywide garden waste collection this month. As was the case last year, Liberal Democrat campaigners have been approached by a number of residents in recent days who are frankly bemused that the last green bin collection of the year will shortly be completed, while leaves are still falling from the trees across York.
“Residents are faced with a choice of burning their garden waste, driving across York to the remaining recycling centres or putting it into their grey waste collection – which will further increase waste sent to landfill and of course increase landfill tax.
A special garden waste collection is the only sensible option and would show residents that the council is listening to local concerns and determined to take action to reduce landfill tax.
Cost has been cited as a reason not to act, but given the rising landfill tax costs – it would surely be better for the council to spend the money on collecting the green waste rather than on the additional landfill tax which would result in not collecting the green waste.”
The joint letter from the opposition parties reads:
Dear Councillor Merrett,
This week many residents are facing their last green bin collection until the spring with all collections stopping by Friday 7th November.
We have been approached by a number of local residents concerned that the last collection has been completed while leaves are still falling from the trees and after a mild autumn has seen late growth in their gardens.
In the coming weeks, residents will be faced with a choice of trying to store their garden waste in their green bins over the winter, driving across York to the remaining recycling centres or putting it into their grey waste collection – which will further increase waste sent to landfill and therefore landfill tax.
A further citywide green bin collection in late November/early December – to deal with the late autumn garden waste accumulation – is the only sensible policy. This would show residents that the council is listening to local concerns and determined to take action to help boost recycling and reduce landfill tax.
We understand the cost of a further citywide collection would be £31,000. We believe the direct cost of this extra collection should be met from the 2014/15 contingency fund. It should however be pointed out that an extra collection will stop residents putting garden waste into their grey bins and therefore make a saving on landfill tax as well.
Please could you discuss this proposal with officers and send us a formal reply by Monday 3rd November.
Yours sincerely,
Councillor Keith Aspden, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group
Councillor Chris Steward, Leader of the Conservative Group
Councillor Andy D’Agorne, Leader of the Green Group
Councillor Ken King, Leader of the Labour Independent Group
Councillors Brian Watson, Sian Wiseman and Mark Warters, Independents