'Unfair' garden waste charges approved

On Monday, members of BCP Council’s cabinet agreed to bring in a new single £46 per bin charge as part of efforts to bring services into line following the merger earlier this year.

But councillor Stephen Bartlett said the change was unfair on people living in Bournemouth whose 140 litre bins are almost half the size of those in the other two towns.

Almost 50,000 people in the conurbation pay for garden waste collections, more than 19,000 of whom live in Bournemouth.

Christchurch residents are charged £50.50 to be included in the service with people in the other two towns having to pay £43.

Under plans approved on Monday, charges will be unified at £46.

However, the size of bins will not be brought into line with subscribers in Christchurch and Poole receiving larger 240 litre bins.

Speaking at Monday’s cabinet meeting, councillor Stephen Bartlett, said the change was unfair on people living in Bournemouth.

“Bournemouth residents are paying twice as much as those in Christchurch and Poole,” he said. “This is unfair and I’m astonished it was put forward.

“We are supposed to harmonise our services within the next two years and this is just not fair and will affect take-up of the service.”

Despite this, the change was unanimously approved by the cabinet.

Councillor David Brown, portfolio holder for finance, said it would need to find £289,000 to replace the bins and that changes in legislation could mean they require further changes in the coming years.

“It’s not ideal to still have differences but this is the charge for the collection of the bin, not for what’s inside it.”

The cabinet did agree, however, not to increase the discounted costs of additional bins for people living in Bournemouth.

Councillor Andy Hadley, cabinet member for transport, said: “This is a discretionary service and what we are trying to do here is cover the costs of collection.

“We are all working to get equality but the cost of changing the bins would be very significant.”