Decision details

Buckinghamshire Council became a unitary authority on 1 April 2020 and at that point inherited different arrangements for the charging for garden waste services from the four district councils.  The current arrangements were for residents residing in the former Aylesbury Vale, Chiltern and South Bucks areas to have an ‘Opt In’ service where participating residents were charged for the collection of their garden waste, whereas residents residing in the former Wycombe area were not charged separately for garden waste collection service for their first bin or bags.

Chargeable garden waste services were an important way to reduce costs and prioritise essential Council services.  Chargeable garden waste services delivered significant savings for the Council and currently generated a gross annual income of circa £2.6m. Aligning charges was estimated to generate an additional gross income of between £900,000 and £1.1m annually.

Four options were presented in the Cabinet report, with option 1 the recommended option, which was to introduce a chargeable Opt in kerbside garden waste collection service in the former Wycombe District Council area from July 2022.

In addition to harmonisation of charges across Buckinghamshire the report recommended harmonising the operational arrangements for garden waste services to provide the same standard of service to all participating residents.

The Controlled Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 provided powers that local authorities had the discretion to charge for collection and disposal of certain wastes.  Paragraph 4 of Schedule 1 of these regulations set out that a council may charge for the collection (but not the disposal) of household garden waste.

Cabinet had previously heard questions from Ward Members, Councillors Tony Green, Lesley Clarke OBE and Katrina Wood in the Written Questions item at the start of the meeting and considered this information as part of their deliberations.

RESOLVED –

(1)          That to provide equity across all areas of Buckinghamshire, it be agreed for the Council to harmonise Garden Waste charges across all of Buckinghamshire by introducing ‘Opt In’ charging from July 2022 for the Wycombe area.

(2)          That the operational arrangements for Garden Waste collection services across all of Buckinghamshire be harmonised, as detailed in the Cabinet report.