Fury as town halls bring in 'rubbish tax'
Taking rubbish to the municipal dump is to cost money for the first time under new tip taxes introduced by councils.
Refuse dump charges will mean anyone taking their rubbish to recycling centres will be hit with a ?2 charge for driving in and may be asked to pay more for getting rid of some types of waste.
The charges are the latest wheeze for taxes on rubbish invented by local authorities to raise extra money on top of their council taxes and Treasury grants.
Down in the dumps: Residents now face paying more than ?4 to leave a tyre at tips in Somerset
But they ran into instant condemnation from Cabinet ministers and warnings that demanding money from people who want to use their local tip is illegal.
The first group of councils to bring in tip taxes are six authorities in Somerset who operate a joint waste partnership to collect rubbish.
The charges have been sold to residents as a concession by the councils, which say that otherwise the recycling centres would have had to close because of spending cuts.
Other local authorities are watching closely to see if the Somerset councils get away with it.
The money saved by closing the refuse tips would have been ?300,000 a year but just one of the councils involved spent more than ?1million in pay-off money when it made three of its senior officials redundant last year.
Staff at three rubbish tips in the area started asking for ?2 each from people driving in this week. Another is asking ?1.20 for entry.
Specific items will cost more for example, leaving a tyre at the dump will be ?4.20.
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles condemned the charges and warned that the result will be increased fly-tipping and high costs for clearing up the mess it causes.
Tip taxes are utterly counter-productive, he said.
Charging for using recycling centres and the local dump will create perverse incentives for fly-tipping, harming the local environment and diverting taxpayers money into cleaning up.
He added:The Government is abolishing Labour bin taxes and we will not allow municipal bureaucrats to introduce back-door charges for the collection or disposal of household waste.
People already pay ?120 a month in council tax for local services.
Load of rubbish: Fortnightly collections and compulsory recycling systems - cheaper to run than traditional weekly bin rounds - have continued to spread
I have grave concerns over the legality of this move, which runs contrary to the intentions of Parliament.
I urge local residents in Somerset to report their councils to the District Auditor or the Local Government Ombudsman who have powers to block these charges.
Tip taxes were considered by Labour ministers four years ago but dropped when the deeply hostile public reaction to the introduction of fortnightly collections showed there would be a painful political price to pay.
Local authorities have continued to try to save or raise money from their rubbish services, though.
Fortnightly collections and compulsory recycling systems cheaper to run than traditional weekly bin rounds have continued to spread.
Some councils have tried to bring in legally questionable charges.
Tory-run Wokingham is to ration residents to one binbag a week and charge people who want to put out more rubbish, while Tory-controlled Reading last week told its householders that to pay for their council tax freeze it would in future charge them to take away garden waste.
The Tory-dominated Somerset councils where average council tax bills run to around ?1,200 a year said their tip taxes were legal because some tips do not charge.
They said:The four recycling sites were originally earmarked for closure as part of the savings package but, in response to a strong message from the local community, charging has been introduced as an alternative.
The legal obligation to provide sites free of charge for household waste is fulfilled through the remaining 14 sites.
Waste partnership manager Steve Read added:A lot of people are looking at Somerset.
We know that other counties are likely to copy it if the trial works.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...bish-tax.html#
Taking rubbish to the municipal dump is to cost money for the first time under new tip taxes introduced by councils.
Refuse dump charges will mean anyone taking their rubbish to recycling centres will be hit with a ?2 charge for driving in and may be asked to pay more for getting rid of some types of waste.
The charges are the latest wheeze for taxes on rubbish invented by local authorities to raise extra money on top of their council taxes and Treasury grants.
Down in the dumps: Residents now face paying more than ?4 to leave a tyre at tips in SomersetBut they ran into instant condemnation from Cabinet ministers and warnings that demanding money from people who want to use their local tip is illegal.
The first group of councils to bring in tip taxes are six authorities in Somerset who operate a joint waste partnership to collect rubbish.
The charges have been sold to residents as a concession by the councils, which say that otherwise the recycling centres would have had to close because of spending cuts.
Other local authorities are watching closely to see if the Somerset councils get away with it.
The money saved by closing the refuse tips would have been ?300,000 a year but just one of the councils involved spent more than ?1million in pay-off money when it made three of its senior officials redundant last year.
Staff at three rubbish tips in the area started asking for ?2 each from people driving in this week. Another is asking ?1.20 for entry.
Specific items will cost more for example, leaving a tyre at the dump will be ?4.20.
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles condemned the charges and warned that the result will be increased fly-tipping and high costs for clearing up the mess it causes.
Tip taxes are utterly counter-productive, he said.
Charging for using recycling centres and the local dump will create perverse incentives for fly-tipping, harming the local environment and diverting taxpayers money into cleaning up.
He added:The Government is abolishing Labour bin taxes and we will not allow municipal bureaucrats to introduce back-door charges for the collection or disposal of household waste.
People already pay ?120 a month in council tax for local services.
Load of rubbish: Fortnightly collections and compulsory recycling systems - cheaper to run than traditional weekly bin rounds - have continued to spreadI have grave concerns over the legality of this move, which runs contrary to the intentions of Parliament.
I urge local residents in Somerset to report their councils to the District Auditor or the Local Government Ombudsman who have powers to block these charges.
Tip taxes were considered by Labour ministers four years ago but dropped when the deeply hostile public reaction to the introduction of fortnightly collections showed there would be a painful political price to pay.
Local authorities have continued to try to save or raise money from their rubbish services, though.
Fortnightly collections and compulsory recycling systems cheaper to run than traditional weekly bin rounds have continued to spread.
Some councils have tried to bring in legally questionable charges.
Tory-run Wokingham is to ration residents to one binbag a week and charge people who want to put out more rubbish, while Tory-controlled Reading last week told its householders that to pay for their council tax freeze it would in future charge them to take away garden waste.
The Tory-dominated Somerset councils where average council tax bills run to around ?1,200 a year said their tip taxes were legal because some tips do not charge.
They said:The four recycling sites were originally earmarked for closure as part of the savings package but, in response to a strong message from the local community, charging has been introduced as an alternative.
The legal obligation to provide sites free of charge for household waste is fulfilled through the remaining 14 sites.
Waste partnership manager Steve Read added:A lot of people are looking at Somerset.
We know that other counties are likely to copy it if the trial works.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...bish-tax.html#
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