East Herts Council bins Conservative concerns about £10 rise in green waste charge

Conservative concerns about an increase in East Herts Council’s (EHC) green waste collection charge have been binned by the authority.

Eight Tories, including three who represent Bishop’s Stortford, challenged the £10 hike for a garden waste bin which was sanctioned in January by the Green Party’s Cllr Tim Hoskin, the council’s executive member for environmental sustainability.

The annual charge for householders has risen from £49 to £59 – from 94p a week to £1.13 a week – to raise around £300,000 from the 30,000 households that have signed up for the fortnightly collections.

The £49 charge was introduced by the Conservatives in April 2021 – two years before they lost control of the council in the local elections – and Cllr Hoskin’s new levy reflects the impact of inflation.

However, the collection service is delivered as part of a shared waste, recycling and street cleansing service contract with North Herts District Council – which has NOT imposed the same price hike.

EHC’s Conservative group leader, Cllr Bob Deering, said: “The charge for the collection of green waste falls under the schedule of the council’s fees and charges which are reviewed and agreed by full council as part of the budget approval process.

“It is not correct for any change to this charge to be made by means of a key decision by the executive. The current £49 charge was agreed by full council and any proposal to now change the charge should be brought forward to full council for proper and full debate.”

The “pre-emptive” move by EHC’s Green and Liberal Democrat cabinet was also criticised by former council deputy leader and executive member for financial sustainability Cllr Geoffrey Williamson. He said it contravened the authority’s constitution and accepted practice.

He was backed by Bishop’s Stortford’s Cllr Graham McAndrew, who said: “The decision to increase garden waste charges by £10 fails to comply with the council’s statutory duty under Section 93 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which limits charges to reasonable costs.

“The £10 increase exceeds the proportionate cost recovery demonstrated by North Herts (£6 increase under the same contract) and aligns with an unlawful income generation strategy.”

Fellow town Tories Cllrs John Wyllie and Diane Hollebon said: “We believe the decision will have a major financial impact on residents and therefore should be discussed by the full council.”

Their “call in” demand was considered by the council’s monitoring officer, legal expert James Ellis.

In a written judgment, he said: “The effect of a call-in is to allow members to bring an executive decision that has been made but not yet implemented before scrutiny for examination by those members.”

However, the increase was discussed when members of the council’s audit and governance committee and overview and scrutiny committees met on January 29, he said, and there was “ample opportunity” to highlight concerns.

“It was at this point that members should have raised the points they are now seeking to address via the call-in,” said Mr Ellis. “Call-in should not be used to allow members a second opportunity to rescrutinise the same issue.”

He added that the council’s constitution allowed executive members to approve in-year changes to fees and charges.

“I am satisfied that the proposed change to garden waste charges is an in-year change, taking place in February when the service runs to April,” he said.

The garden waste service is promoted from February with payments taken in March for collections from April.