Controversial proposals to bring in charges to collect garden waste in Bolton are ‘dead and buried’, the borough’s council leader has said. In October, the town hall revealed a plan to charge up to 80,000 households £45 a year for 25 bin collections of garden waste a year.
The Labour-controlled authority previously proposed charges would apply to households that ‘opt in’ to have their ‘green bin’ garden waste collected, a service which is currently free. The third of Bolton households that do not have a garden, and instead put their food waste in a 23-litre caddy, would not be affected.
A consultation late last year saw 12,878 responses received, with 90 per cent saying they wouldn’t be willing to pay for the service. But the authority’s leader Nick Peel has said an additional £3m of funding from the local government finance settlement meant the unpopular proposal, branded a ‘garden tax’ by opponents, will now not go ahead.
He said: “The settlement by the new Labour government has brought a bit of welcome news after 14 years of austerity that has led to serious cuts to frontline services. “With the demand on adults and children’s social care growing year on year, the reality is that the expenditure the council has to make constantly outstrips the money it has available to, legally and morally, spend on these essential services.
“This had led to disproportionate cuts to neighbourhood services, the type of thing people see on a day-to-day basis.” The council believed introducing charges would have brought around £1m and would mean cuts would be reduced elsewhere.
Coun Peel added: “We have carried out a consultation seeking people’s views on the opt in charging scheme, but we didn’t actually include this as part of our budget proposals. “I think it’s safe to say that this option is now dead and buried.”
The Conservative opposition group said the u-turn on garden waste charges was a victory for their ‘Axe The Garden Tax’ campaign.
They claimed the consultation itself was ‘flawed and biased’. The council’s own consultation summary said ‘respondents felt strongly that the questioning of the survey led them to being unable to disagree with statements’.
Bolton’s budget for 2025/26, without garden waste charges included, is due to be agreed at a meeting of the full council in February.