West Lothian Council is being forced to reduce spending and change a wide range of non - statutory services due to insufficient funding being provided by the Scottish Government, combined with increasing costs. 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.
Leader of West Lothian Council Lawrence Fitzpatrick said: "Moving forward we are looking to put in place garden waste charges as it's a non-statutory service. We understand however that the Scottish Government is intending making it a statutory service. The Scottish Government providing funding for that service would make it possible for us to remove the garden waste charge in future.
"It is possible that if we do not introduce a charge now, then the Scottish Government would not provide us with additional income should they make the service statutory in future. This would result in less funding for local services."
He added: "I don't think anyone wants to pay for a garden waste collection, but the options available to the council are now very limited and that is why the majority of councils in Scotland already have similar charging schemes.
"Operational Services - which provides vital services such as roads, paths, parks, recycling centres, waste and recycling - cannot sustain further cuts. We don't believe that is what local residents want, either. Without increasing income via charging, the only option available is to look at reducing services further and we don't want that. We want to protect services and protect jobs.
"We need to consider all options available to us given the financial challenges we face."
A final decision is expected to be made when the council sets its budget later this month.
In brief:
- It is proposed that permits for West Lothian residents would cost £50 per household per annum, with options to be considered for households with more than two brown bins. This charge compares with other councils.
- The majority of Scottish councils which collect garden waste charge for the service. Glasgow and Falkirk councils introducing charges last year.
- The proposal to introduce a chargeable garden waste service would generate additional net income of £1.15 million. This income would go towards the cost of providing the garden waste collection service
- Food and garden waste collections currently take place on a fortnightly basis from the brown bin. A chargeable garden waste service would see food waste continue to be placed in the brown bin and collected fortnightly without charge, with the purchase of a permit allowing customers to also place garden waste in the bin.
- Customers would continue to receive a food waste collection in their brown bin whether a permit is purchased or not. If, however, garden waste is placed in a brown bin which does not have a valid permit, then the bin would not be emptied on that occasion.
- It is proposed that the change could be implemented from May 2024
- The proposal is one of many that, if agreed, would help the council to balance its budget (which is a legal requirement) and still maintain services.
