IN FULL: 'Enforcement team needs to be active' says Luton councillor as garden waste charges approved

Extra enforcement officers have been deployed during the last fortnight to sift for evidence where rubbish has been dumped.

The amount of clues found in the waste has surprised Labour Challney councillor Tom Shaw, portfolio holder for housing and the environment.

A proposal to introduce an annual charge to collect garden waste from March 1 was formally approved by the local authority's executive.

But councillors were warned that fly-tipping could be one consequence of this policy.

The decision is one of the measures arising from the council's emergency budget in response to a £49m finance deficit because of the pandemic.

Charging for garden waste collections would generate an estimated £300,000 saving, said a report to the executive.

"About 65 per cent of English councils charge between £14 and £96 a year for this service."

The cost would be "£40 per collection for anyone wanting it," explained councillor Shaw.

"We believe we will get about 22 per cent of residents taking that up.

"We've had so much contamination in the brown bins over the last two or three years, and we've just not been able to sort it out.

"We're going to spend £25,000 on composting bins and give them out to the first 2,000 people who come forward for them.

"We'll keep garden waste going for anyone who wants it.

"You have to remember 20 per cent of people in the town were never on the garden waste system because they live in flats, so they weren't supplied with bins."

Liberal Democrat Barnfield councillor David Franks said: "We were told it was going to be a 12-month service.

"It's planned to be a ten-month service, February to November, according to the report.

"In the first year, it will only be nine-month because you're not starting until March.

"Looking at the proportion of take up, there will be 23,000 bins which you're currently emptying.

"I could do with an explanation as to how that amount won't end up being fly-tipped because I suspect a lot of it will be."

Councillor Shaw replied: "If people want it all year round, we'll keep it running throughout the year.

"If residents want to put garden waste in their brown bin, one of the good ways is putting a hole in the bottom and making that into a compost bin.

"Or we can take them away, if that's what they want."

Labour Lewsey councillor Aslam Khan said: "We need to ensure our enforcement team become active once we've stopped the brown bin collection because there's every likelihood of some of it ending up on the streets."

Councillor Shaw added: "The new system in place for fly-tipping is proving to be an absolutely brilliant success.

"In the first two weeks, enforcement officers got evidence to take prosecutions out against more than 100 people from the stuff picked off the streets.

"We've got to find the money to keep them going after 12 months.

"I'm sure you've noticed how much cleaner the streets are regarding the fly-tipping. It's down to this gang.

"It's surprised me how much evidence we found, with more than 100 possible prosecutions in the pipeline."

The committee agreed to introduce the annual green waste charge of £40 per bin.