Councillors are set to consider introducing a subscription service for garden waste collections for residents in the Selby area.
North Yorkshire Council’s executive will make a decision next Tuesday (June 20), after reviewing the findings of a recent public consultation. If approved, the changes will come into force later this year.
Residents in other parts of North Yorkshire already pay a separate charge for this service. The move to a chargeable service in the Selby area, would it is argued, be fair for all households across the county so everyone receives the same service in the same way.
The harmonisation of the garden waste collection services follows the creation of North Yorkshire Council, replacing the county’s former eight county, borough and district councils, which offered differing garden waste collections.
A single charge for this service in the Selby area would be in place of £43.50 per bin per year. Residents would initially pay £29 from September 2023 to March 2024 as the charge is being introduced part-way through the year.
Garden waste is a discretionary service, not one that councils are legally required to provide. The income generated from the subscription will be used to offset the costs of delivering the service.
North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for waste services, Cllr Greg White, said: “We have carefully considered the best approach for the delivery of garden waste collections, and we thank everybody who took part in the recent consultation which will be considered by councillors.
“We are proposing the harmonisation as it is clearly not fair that some residents are paying for this service, and some are not.
“Standardising our approach would allow those who use it to opt-in to a service that pays for itself.”
Members of the executive will be asked to agree the charging period and service arrangements including winter collection arrangements.
If approved, subscriptions would open for residents to sign up to the new service from next month with the first paid-for collection starting late August.
Information packs would be sent to residents affected by this change.
Residents would not need to tell the council if they do not want to receive the service.
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