The ruling Tory group of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council rubber stamped their Household Recycling, Waste Collection and Street Cleansing proposal in a Cabinet meeting last week.
From March 30 next year, this will see a kerbside collection for glass and a separate weekly collection for food waste.
More contentiously, it will also see householders opt in for a £52-a-year scheme for garden waste to be collected. A new bin will be included within the fee.
After a multi-party cabinet advisory board passed the motion it seemed inevitable the Cabinet would follow suit. And Conservative leaders took the opportunity to praise the scheme, previously criticised by Labour, Liberal Democrat and Tunbridge Wells Alliance opponents as a ‘stealth tax’.
Cllr Ronen Basu, portfolio holder for sustainability, said: “This helps people who have a garden and spares people who do not, as they will not have to pay for something they don’t need. It is a justified way of charging.”
His colleague Cllr Tracy Moore said: “The collection is £1 a week. If you think about it, it costs 98p to post a large letter or £1.10 a week to buy the Courier newspaper. So £1 a week does represent good value for our residents.”
