Tens of thousands of residents in south Warwickshire sign up to pay for green bin collections - more than the council predicted

Tens of thousands of residents in south Warwickshire have signed up to pay for green bin collections.

The controversial £40 fee was brought in by Stratford District Council (SDC), which covers Southam and many villages around Leamington, Warwick and Kenilworth, back in April.

Council officers said they were forced to bring in the measures to offset a cut in funding from central Government.

This week, SDC said that more than 45,000 households - almost 75 per cent - have signed up to the Clip and Collect garden waste subscription service, which exceeds any original estimate that had been predicted and factored into the budget process.

Cllr Ian Shenton, climate change portfolio, said: “I would like to thank all our residents who have purchased the permits, we are incredibly grateful to them.

"Although this is a service we don’t have to provide and is not part of the council tax, we know this service is valued by residents.

“We had to make the difficult choice to charge for the service or possibly discontinue it completely. We felt that it would be fairer for residents to have the choice to pay for a service, rather than not having a service at all.

“The revenue raised by permits has exceeded our forecasts and expectations in the first year and that is a great measure of how valued this service is. This income helps contribute towards the cost of providing this and other waste and cleansing service, reducing pressure elsewhere on the council’s finances

“I would also like to thank all the staff who have been involved in implementing the chargeable waste service – this has been a tremendous team effort from across the whole council.”

To subscribe and find out more about this service, please visit: www.stratford.gov.uk/gardenwaste

If you do not want a green waste subscription you can request removal of your green bin by visiting - www.stratford.gov.uk/online-forms/green-bin-removal-request