Plans for Harborough residents to pay for new green bins will be 'scrunitised with a fine toothcomb' before a decision is made next week

Plans to charge people for new bins across Harborough will be scrutinised closely, a leading councillor has vowed.

Harborough District Council is poised to make people moving into new homes fork out for wheelie bins.

Residents would also have to pay to replace damaged or stolen bins for the first time.

But Cllr Phil Knowles insisted: “We need to look at this very carefully.

“People could end up paying out a huge amount of money for new wheelie bins.

“It’s a serious additional cost to transfer over from the council to people at the sharp end.”

Householders could face paying up to £48.58 for a black bin and £46.45 for a blue recycling bin and green garden waste bin.

“People have enough of a burden to shoulder these days.

“They already have to find more cash to have their green bin emptied every fortnight.

“As the Opposition group on the council we will scrutinise these proposals very closely,” said Cllr Knowles, leader of the council’s Liberal Democrats.

“We will pore over the ruling Conservative group’s budget plan for 2020-2021 with a fine toothcomb and make sure we hold their feet to the fire.”

The controversial bin blueprint will be put to the council’s Cabinet meeting on Monday night (Jan 13).

Charges will be enforced from April if rubberstamped at a full council meeting on February 24.

Cllr Phil King, the council’s leader, said: “We have got some hard decisions to take and we won’t swerve them.

“It’s not easy for local government in this day and age.

“Charging people for new bins will save us about £100,000 a year and that’s a lot of money.

“We’ve only got one pot of cash and we have to decide how best to spend it.”

He said other local authorities have already gone down the route of slapping a cost on new bins.

“People have to budget for paying for new broadband, landlines and so much else when they move into a new home.

“If our proposals go through they will have to pay for bins too,” said Cllr King.

“Currently we are all paying for this service as taxpayers so we are just proposing that this won’t be the case in the future.”