Paid for services to collect garden waste were introduced in Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge in 2019, when Urbaser took over as joint contractor for both local authorities.
The £52 annual levy was meant to pay for fortnightly collections and was set to generate more than £700,000 a year from around 15,000 residents that signed up to the scheme.
But the service had to be suspended in July following the national shortage of HGV drivers and Tunbridge Wells Borough Council [TWBC] promised residents they would not be out of pocket and promised to roll over any undue collections.
While a one-off collection was offered to residents in October, there has been no sign of the fortnightly collections resuming any time soon.
At last week’s Full Council meeting, councillors were told that for every two weeks that garden waste is not being collected the Council is losing £45,000.
The cost of the suspended service was revealed when Lib Dem Cllr Ben Chapelard asked how much the suspension had cost.
Cllr Matt Bailey, the Council’s head of Environment replied: “We took the difficult decision to suspend the garden waste service to protect our main waste and recycling collections that all households in our borough, regardless of income level, need and expect the council to provide.
“This decision to prioritise our statuary services has come at a financial cost to the council with gross income reduced by approximately £45,000 each fortnight while the suspension continues.”
It means so far, the suspension has wiped out nearly £500,000 of expected income and if it continues into July, there will a shortfall for the Council of £1.1million.
The news comes as TWBC is currently preparing its 2022/23 budget and is consulting residents on how to plug a £2million deficit brought about by a reduction in business rates, council tax and income from fees such as car parks due to the pandemic.
Cllr Bailey told the Times that he expects the garden waste service to resume soon after the New Year, adding: “The decision to temporarily suspend the garden waste service was taken due to the national shortage of HGV drivers.
“This has affected crucial areas of the economy, including the distribution of food, fuel and medicine, as well as waste and recycling services around the country.
“Our main priority is to get the service restored. We’ve finished the one-off collections in our borough, and we’re pushing the contractor to restore a regular service as soon as they possibly can. We hope to have news on that early in the new year.”
But Cllr Ben Chapelard said contractor Urbaser should take its share of the financial responsibility for the suspended service.
He said: “Cash-strapped Tunbridge Wells Borough Council is now paying the price for the Conservatives’ poor decision-making over its waste contract. Losing £45,000 every two weeks is a lot of money when the council is facing a £2million deficit next year.
“TWBC is losing over £1million a year whilst garden waste is not being collected but, its contractor Urbaser, gets away with no financial penalties whatsoever.
“In this situation there is no incentive for Urbaser to recruit extra drivers to provide this service to residents. The Conservatives have failed to hold their own contractor to account.”
