Within weeks, millions of taxpayers may see their rubbish collections slashed to once a month as a result of numerous councils that are struggling financially.
New data has shown that 42 councils in the UK – more than one in 10 – are considering reducing their waste collection services to save money.
If all recommendations are approved, almost eight million people may see some sort of adjustment to their bin collection schedule, with about five million of them experiencing a reduction.
In addition, over 800,000 more could have their weekly recycling service cut to fortnightly or monthly.
The vast preponderance of local authorities across the UK cutting bin collections are simultaneously hiking council tax by 4.99 percent, the highest figure allowed without a local referendum or special government approval.
Birmingham’s 1.1 million residents are facing a 7.5 percent tax rise – signed off by Angela Rayner on Monday – while seeing their residual waste collected fortnightly, rather than weekly.
It is a similar story for the 500,000 population of Bristol – who are still consulting on whether to collect residual waste monthly, instead of fortnightly.
Cheshire East, which asked for a 10 percent tax rise, intends to save about £1 million yearly from the move to monthly.
Councillor Mick Warren, chairman of Cheshire East’s environment and communities committee, admitted the change is unpopular but that recent legislation demanding authorities collect food waste weekly requires ‘significant and costly operational changes’.
The study also shows Leicester, Wakefield, Sandwell, Lewisham and Stoke-on-Trent as other local authorities where over 250,000 residents could be affected. All six have proposed to hike council tax by 4.99 percent from April.
Joanna Marchong, investigations campaign manager of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, which uncovered the data, said: ‘Residents will be left wondering what to do when the bin lorries don’t show up and the rubbish piles high.
‘A shocking number of councils are considering cutting collections, which would leave people facing ever-growing mountains of waste.
‘Town halls need to stop making a mess of basic services and focus on delivering what taxpayers pay for.’
Under the previous Tory government, ministers said residual waste must be collected at least fortnightly due to concerns over smells and vermin if it was less regular.
However, guidance from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs issued in November seems to remove that requirement, simply saying that authorities should decide collection frequency ‘in a way that meets local needs and provides value for money for the taxpayer’.
Government at local and national levels is broken. What we need is a total overhaul of everything. Restructure all departments and employ only the finest staff that can be found. The rest can take redundancy or early retirement because people have had enough. Will this be the year that taxpayers turn on the establishment, and if they do, it will serve them right?
This Labour government and local authorities are completely untrustworthy, and they never stop wasting public funds on vanity or diversity schemes that ultimately fail.
Where is our money going if our taxes are rising and our services are being cut back? To accommodate the record-breaking influx of migrants.
To ensure that every penny is tracked, I would like to see the breakdown of council tax spending. Complete openness shouldn’t be a problem because it’s our money, but they won’t let you know what they’re spending it on, so that won’t happen.
The biggest joke is that our government is giving councils billions from the treasury, which is taxpayers money. Government needs to get tough with these councils and make them audit every penny that they spend.
We pay far too much tax in the UK, and it’s getting worse by the day. We are already getting taxed monthly for even earning a wage, paying separate council tax, paying taxes when buying groceries, paying taxes when getting any sort of services done, it’s never-ending, and then there is the migration crisis, and now they want us to live in filth!
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 