Cost of paying for your green bin in Harborough is to rise - here are the details

The cost of paying for your green bin in Harborough is to rise to £55 in the spring.

Over 22,000 householders across the district will see their annual subscription for the service in 2021 climb by £15 from £40 – a jump of almost 40 per cent.

The price hike was rubber-stamped by a “clear majority” behind ‘closed doors’ at Harborough District Council’s full virtual council meeting on Monday night (December 14).

But Cllr Phil Knowles, who heads up the council’s Liberal Democrat opposition, has slammed the controversial move – declaring he was “appalled” by the way it was forced through.

He hit out as Cllr Phil King, the council leader, told the Harborough Mail after the “emotive” debate was held in secret: “This rise is very unfortunate but we have no choice.

“I realise that people in Harborough are not going to exactly welcome this decision with open arms.

“But financially we have to do it - there is no other way forward for us.”

The council leader said they are currently subsidising the popular green bin garden waste collection to the tune of £283,000-a-year.

“That’s a lot of money and we simply cannot afford to continue to lose that much cash.

“Even at rock-bottom cost price bins cost us just under £53-a-year each to empty,” said Cllr King.

“So I want to stress to people that we are not making any money out of this.

“Let’s be totally honest.

“We empty people’s green bins 18 times a year.

“So you pay about £3 for each collection – which is still huge value for money.

“Our contractors do a superb job picking up and emptying your bins.

“It’s a very practical, reliable, convenient refuse service and we get very few complaints from our customers year in year out,” insisted Cllr King.

“As a percentage increase I admit that this is pretty horrendous – I get that.

“I’ve got a green bin myself and I’m not happy about forking out quite a bit more either.

“But this has got to be done.

“If we don’t act now we’d have to make people redundant – and see some of our fantastic staff lose their jobs.

“That’s the stark reality – and we are just not going to do that.

“Our workforce has been brilliant all year throughout this unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic – and they are not going to pay for all their efforts and overtime by losing their livelihoods.

“So the only way that we can balance the books is by hiking the price up to £55 for next year’s subscription,” stressed Cllr King.

“At the same time we are always looking to see how we can make the green bin service even more efficient and more cost-effective.”

But fuming Cllr Knowles told the Mail: “I’m appalled at the way this decision was taken.

“This is a seriously big price increase at a very tough time for a lot of people.

“We moved to defer this move until January at least.

“We did so because we want more time to debate it.

“But, sadly, we were defeated and this was pushed through – even though every opposition member voted against it.”

He added: “We are very angry because we were not given the necessary information and cast iron evidence supporting this drastic price spike.

“We’ve only got part of the picture.

“Why does have it to be rammed through now?

“Why not wait just a few more weeks until we have all the critical facts and figures in front of us so that we could make a much better choice?

“Why have we got to this stage of bailing out the green bin service with almost £300,000 of taxpayers’ money – didn’t anyone realise much earlier that this was the case?

“I’m also very annoyed that this debate was held in private.

“It’s deeply regrettable.

“The people of Harborough should have been able to tune in and listen and watch this crucial discussion.”

Meanwhile, Cllr King said the struggling authority is a staggering £1.7 million “out of pocket” after a devastating year on the economic front.

“That figure could come down to £1.1 million.

“But that depends on factors such as extra Government support and how much we can manage to recover in unpaid Council Tax and business rates.

“We have been battered by the coronavirus as our income has plunged while our spending to support elderly and vulnerable people through our community hub has shot up,” said Cllr King.

“So it does seem to be inevitable, unfortunately, that people’s Council Tax will go up next year for 2021-22.

“We managed to freeze the tax last year.

“And people in Harborough are still shelling out less Council Tax now than they did nine years ago.

“Our cash reserves are also healthy.

“But it does look as if the Council Tax will have to go up next year if we are to maintain all of our ambitious spending programmes and fulfil all of our many commitments to people across Harborough.”