Lib Dems slam 'political cowardice' over Green Bin Tax roll-out
York's Liberal Democrats are calling on council bosses to explain a sudden U-turn in plans to start charging for garden waste collection from 22nd July.
In the past week the council's Labour administration has paid for adverts to be posted on Facebook and in the 'Handy Mag' magazine delivered to thousands of homes in the north of the city which advertised a 22 July start date for the new charge. These plans have however been thrown into confusion after the council announced on its website that "We've delayed the launch from 22 July, to allow some customers to help us iron out any glitches."
It has been suggested that the launch has been delayed in order to avoid sending letters to residents just days before the General Election asking them to pay up or lose the service.
Andrew Hollyer, Lib Dem candidate for York Outer, has accused the Labour administration of 'political cowardice' for keeping their plans secret until just after the election.
"In January this year Labour councillors forced through a new £46.50 annual tax for green waste collections – ignoring the voices of the thousands of residents that signed my petition against the tax. This is in addition to a council tax increase of 4.99%, despite Labour clearly promising before the last election not to raise council tax in York at all.
"I warned at the time that this new tax would add to the burden on already hard-pressed households during a cost of living crisis. As a regressive tax (taking no account of ability to pay) it would hit the poorest the hardest. There is a clear risk of more green waste ending up in black bins, more fly-tipping across the city and more car trips to the tip. It would damage our environment and harm efforts to combat climate change.
"It now seems that Labour are running scared of the understandable public reaction to their new tax - fearing losing votes in the general election. Only by voting Liberal Democrat can a message be sent to the Labour Council to cancel this tax altogether."