Shepway To Be Hit By Tory Garden Tax

Shepway Council confirmed last night that an annual £35 fee would be charged for the green garden waste recycling bins, on top of the Council tax levied by Shepway. Taken with the expected tax increase which Shepway will set in February, a household choosing to keep their brown-top bin in recycling will see their Shepway Council tax move from £203 this year to a combined Council & Garden Tax of £247 next year - a record 21.7% increase.

The basic Band D Council Tax from Shepway for 2007/08 is £203.13. Assuming a 4.5% increase for 2008-09 and Cllr Love's £35 Garden Tax this will become £247.27 for those who choose to retain their currently free brown-top bin.

£247.27 is effectively a Shepway Tax increase including Garden Tax of £44.14 - a percentage rise of 21.7%.

At the full Shepway Council meeting on 23rd January, Cheriton Cllr Tim Prater quizzed District Secretary Councillor Love on the new Garden Tax and asked him to commit not to introduce other such charges on services in future.

Commenting after the meeting, Tim Prater said:

"If you've got a garden, the brown-top bin collection is really valuable - which is why the Government gave Shepway a huge grant to launch the scheme in the first place. The imposition of this £35 charge is therefore quite simply a Garden Tax. Many will simply send their bins back and take their waste to the tip themselves, and Shepway's recycling figures will plummet.

"I think we can expect to see thousands of brown-top bins returned in disgust at Shepway's new Garden Tax. There are currently 17,500 of these bins across Shepway, although ludicrously, Shepway don't know where and will have to write to every household to ask if they have a bin! If all those bins are returned, 17,500 brown-top bins would cover around 4,375 sq metres - 16 tennis courts - to a depth of 4 feet.

"Councillor Love's claim that its only right that this is a charge as most people can't use the service is flawed on two counts.

"Firstly, all residents ARE currently paying for it, but I notice there is no drop in Council Tax at the same time as the service is introduced.

"Secondly, there are many services across Shepway, across Kent and nationally that everyone has to pay for in tax, whether they use them, or even could use them, or not. As a flat resident, I, like many others, are not currently covered by Shepway's doorstep recycling scheme and take my household recycling to Cheriton Tesco's recycling point myself. I can't opt-in to that service - it's simply not available to me. I notice Councillor Love, although talking about potential future plans, is not too bashful to take Council Tax from those living in flats to pay for recycling services we just can't get.

"At the meeting, Cllr Love would only commit not to introduce fees on "statutory" services - ie, those items that they are not allowed to impose additional charges on.

"So has he got a plan to introduce new fees on other services next year? Is there yet another stealth tax, like the Garden Tax, coming Cllr Love? Who will you be hitting next time?"