Labour plan new waste collection charges

10.52.00am GMT Tue 11th Nov 2008

Liberal Democrats on Oxford City Council have condemned Labour proposals to charge for collecting bulky items and garden waste - proposals which could cost households the equivalent of more than a pound a week on Council Tax.

The Labour run City Council has produced a Talkback Survey, being sent to about 1,000 residents, in which it is proposed:

• to charge for collecting bulky waste collections up to a rate of £20

• to charge £35 a year for renting a wheelie bin for garden waste

Responding to the news, Lib Dem Leader Cllr David Rundle said: "Not content with a hike in the unfair Council Tax, Labour are thinking up new taxes to impose on the residents of Oxford."

The Survey mentions that some other Councils make a charge for similar services. But that doesn't wash with Cllr Rundle: "What they don't mention is that Oxford's Council Tax is one of the highest in the country."

Summertown Councillor Jean Fooks pointed out: "We should be encouraging more recycling, not making it more difficult. Oxford shouldn't be the dirty man of the county, as it was the last time Labour was in administration at the Town Hall."

Cllr Rundle added: "We know that with cuts in government funding to local councils and a miserly settlement from Labour for OAP bus passes, finances are chronically stretched at the City Council. But that shouldn't be taken as a licence to hit residents with new charges. They should sort out the back office before they start cutting front-line services."