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West Lothian householders warned of major new bin collection change from June

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date15 April 2024
AuthorStuart Sommerville
Publication titleEdinburghLive (Scotland)
From June 1, households will need a £50 permit if they want the council to collect garden waste from home - and social media has been awash with protest

Householders will need to display the permit on the brown bin. If garden waste is placed in your brown bin and you do not have a permit displayed, your bin will not be emptied.

Permits cost £50 per household and will be valid from June 1 to May 31 2025.

The permits brought protests before the budget decision earlier this year and comments on social media suggests resentment has hardened.

The council has limited who can comment on their Facebook page. One householder commenting: "Paying twice for our bin to be emptied, I thought that is why we pay council tax for our bins to be emptied."

West Lothian Council has been forced to reduce spending and change a wide range of non - statutory services because of surging costs and a real terms cut in funding from the Scottish Government.

The introduction of the permit in the February budget caused uproar but council staff working in Operational Services and the largest union - the GMB- welcomed the decision because it actively protects jobs and council services after years of ongoing cutbacks.

Non-statutory services are services which councils are not legally obliged to provide. Currently, garden waste collection is not a statutory service and some councils do not provide any garden collection.

The majority of councils, including neighbouring Falkirk, have now introduced charges. It is expected that garden waste uplift will become a statutory duty and costs covered by the Scottish Government grant to each local authority- which would see the newly introduced costs in West Lothian removed.

The introduction of chargeable garden waste service will generate additional net income of around £1.15...

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