Garden Waste Service Consultation

Garden Waste Service Consultation

Stratford-on-Avon District Council (‘the Council') is facing significant financial and environmental pressures in the medium term. There has been a 60% reduction in central government grant funding which means that the Council must consider a number of options to close the budget deficit in future years. One option is to introduce a chargeable garden waste service to help the Council reduce the costs of service provision. This would also result in more environmentally friendly ways of dealing with garden waste, such as home composting.

Stratford-on-Avon District has one of the lowest ‘Band D' equivalent Council Tax rates in the wider West Midlands region, as seen below:

From 1 June 2020, the Council proposes to introduce an annual £40 charge per wheeled bin or equivalent sacks for the fortnightly collection of garden waste throughout the year. Additional bins/sacks would be charged at the same rate. A 5% discount in the first year would be offered to those residents who set up an annual Direct Debit for the service. The payment terms would be a single annual subscription fee payable in advance and non-refundable. Without this charge, the Council may have to consider discontinuing the existing garden waste service. The Council is interested in finding out:

• Whether residents would continue to use the garden waste service if it became chargeable;
• If so, how much would they be prepared to pay for the service; and
• If not, how would they dispose of their garden waste?

The Garden Waste Consultation has now closed.

For further information please see the Cabinet Report.