4 June (Part 2) - Council leader says bin charges are a tax
Bexley council is currently
asking you to cough up £27 to have your brown bin
emptied fortnightly instead of weekly at no charge. If you want to buy 82% of
the old service (total capacity is reduced) don’t leave it too late, the price
goes up to £33 on the 1st of September.
Most residents are calling it a bin tax and it is in its effect. Bexley council
really dislikes the term, so it deserves the widest possible circulation. Calling it
a bin tax will put you in good company.
We want more people to recycle so we definitely won't be charging for it.
It is an extra tax on local people and we won't be forcing people to pay twice.
We have looked at how it has worked in other local authority areas.
We are definitely not going to charge.
That’s the Conservative leader of Scunthorpe council talking (†). Liz Redfern is
obviously far from being an eponymous leader and knows a thing or two about
serving her residents.
In Bexley things are still in a muddle with too many things unexplained.
Flat dwellers are worried. Near to me some flats get weekly rubbish (green bin)
collections and there is nothing to stop nearby house dwellers with fortnightly
collections ‘borrowing’ their weekly service. The same will apply to the brown
bins in future.
A friend lives in a flat in another part of the borough. The ground floor
accommodation comes with a garden and every flat has a brown bin for food and
garden waste. If some of the keen gardeners pay for the new service their bin
will have to be kept in the communal space. If there are too many, accommodation
for the 240 litre bins (instead of 140) may be a problem. It will be totally impossible to
restrict use to a single resident.
Has Bexley council got a plan? I doubt it. Scunthorpe has Liz Redfern, Bexley has King Cnut.
†
Source info.