South Hams faces charges for garden waste collections

Residents will be £49 a year down from spring

The South Hams council chief responsible for waste says he’s not keen on Christmas trees because they’re bad for the environment.

The surprisingly unfestive tidings came during a council meeting in which it was confirmed that residents will face charges for garden waste and will not have their Christmas trees collected.

It comes as councillors approved plans to scrap free brown bin collections at the end of October and charge £49 per year when the servies restarts in the spring. 

South Hams District Council (SHDC) is taking back control of bin collections after the private firm employed to run them, FCC Environment, agreed in July to end its contract.

Attempts to privatise waste collection services in 2019 have been heavily criticised after FCC faced problems ever since, including missed collections and complaints that vehicles were too large for some areas.  

But plans to start charging for garden waste collections have been met with disapproval from some councillors. 

At SHDC’s full council meeting on Thursday 22 September, Lib Dem councillor for South Brent, Guy Pannell said it was punishing residents for mistakes which were not their fault.

“I think a lot of my residents will feel that they are being penalised for the failures of this council over the entire waste scheme,” said Cllr Pannell. “They feel that they’ve had a terrible service, particularly the brown bins, over the last couple of years. 

“In some of my areas we haven’t had a brown bin collection now for six to eight weeks.

“I do fear that the imposition of a charge will lead to an increase in fly-tipping.”

Green Party councillor for Dartington and Staverton, Jacqi Hodgson, was critical of the move to privatise waste services but backed plans to halt collections between October and next spring. 

“I really respect that we do have to have this gap in this collection,” she said. “And I don’t think it’s the worst one to not be able to collect because I really want people to start thinking positively about what they can do for this planet. 

“And I think one thing people can do is get the snippers out and snip up the garden waste and start doing some composting.”

Independent councillor for Totnes, Jo Sweett, said she supported the plans for a break in brown bin collections but wondered what might happen around Christmas. 

She asked: “I don’t think we had a Christmas tree collection for the 2021 Christmas trees and will that be reintroduced this year and will that be free regardless of whether you just subscribe to the the green waste collection?”

Cllr Keith Baldry, South Hams’ executive member for the environment and Lib Dem member for Newton and Yealmpton replied: “Of course, there will not be a garden waste service this Christmas and therefore Christmas trees will not be collected separately. 

“I’m not very keen on Christmas trees anyway because I don’t think it’s a good idea for the environment.”

Cllr Baldry later said: “We know that nobody will want to pay a subscription fee for the service, but the inescapable truth is that rising costs have forced our hand.

“Ultimately, we must protect our core statutory services. Ceasing the collections over the winter will help us do that as we transition to an in-house waste collection service.

“Compared to what private companies charge for collections, that fee represents good value for money. The subscription fees will purely cover the cost of the service and there will be no profit made. We will provide residents with information in due course on how they can sign up and subscribe for the service.”

Councillors approved the move to pause collections and begin charging for them next year in a vote with 22 in favour and seven against.