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by Ian Shires on 14 June, 2017
So why is the Council even thinking of charging for this service? Well most of you will be aware that since 2010 the council, like all other councils, has had the money it gets from central government slashed as part of the austerity measures. In Walsall’s case its grant support slashed by £160 million. The current government has said that it will continue austerity measures beyond the life of this parliament. This means that over the next two years Walsall will receive a further £25 million less off the government to run services. It should be remembered that only 17% of Walsall’s £632 million gross budget is raised through council tax. The rest comes in the form og grants from central government and a small amount of charges.
At the budget meeting in February the council agreed to go down the route of many other councils by charging for garden waste. This will bring in an extra £300,000 and at the same time gives the opportunity to provide a better service covering more weeks of the year.
So if you are one of the households picked out at random please make sure you fill in the questionnaire and return it the council before the closing date of 7th August 2017. For those of you who don’t receive a questionnaire through the post in the next few days but want to have your say you can respond online at www,walsallbins.co .uk
All the feedback gathered through the questionnaire will go into a report to the cabinet in the autumn for a decision.
2 Comments
i have not received a letter about charging for garden waste but I don’t think it is a good idea you will get people fly tipping and what about people like me I don’t have no grass trees or hedges my garden bin is only emptied twice a year and then it is not full I only have weeds out of my small garden so how can you charge for that
betty kitson
I always recycle correctly and would not be at all happy to have to pay for collection of my brown bin