Controversial plans to charge residents for new bins in Harborough have been scrapped

Plans to make people moving into new homes throughout Harborough pay for wheelie bins have been binned.
Plans to make people moving into new homes throughout Harborough pay for wheelie bins have been binned.Plans to make people moving into new homes throughout Harborough pay for wheelie bins have been binned.
Plans to make people moving into new homes throughout Harborough pay for wheelie bins have been binned.

The under-fire scheme would have saved the district council over £100,000 a year.

New householders would have had to fork out up to £94 for black, blue and green bins if the controversial blueprint had gone ahead.

And residents are being reassured that they will also still be able to get hold of extra recycling bins for free.

But bigger families in Market Harborough and across the patch are being urged to generate less waste by being handed smaller bins.

Homes with five or more people will be given 240-litre bins instead of 360-litre bins to encourage more recycling.

Cllr Phil Knowles, leader of the council’s Liberal Democrat Opposition, said: “This U-turn has arguably been driven by the Government Environmental Bill which is under consideration and which could well impact on waste systems/collections.

“New home-owners were justifiably concerned about the costs of having to buy new bins.

“And others were expressing worries regarding the possible theft of new bins due to the cost.”

He added: “Surely it would have been better to leave this whole subject until clarification was available and we had a clear understanding of the Government’s policy?”