A community activist has rubbished council plans to start charging for waste collections.
Under Haringey Council’s changes residents will have to pay £75 per year for an extra wheelie bin for weekly garden waste collections starting on October 23 with the current hessian sack phased out.
From July 24 it will set residents back £25 to have up to four bulky items collected with £10 for each extra item.
And it will cost £30 to replace a missing bin.
Chair of The Miltons Residents Association Christopher Riley, who along with neighbours took Haringey Council to the ombudsman over its move to fortnightly bin collections four years ago, said: “The last thing we can afford is another wheelie bin.
With waste stored on The Miltons’ pavements because of a lack of front gardens, he added: “We can barely walk along Milton Road. It’s completely congested with bins. It’s so tight. The street seems just dreadful,” he added.
“Flytipping is already a problem and it’s going to get worse. Once a charge is introduced few people will pay. They’re going to fly tip more,” Christopher said.
The trustee of cancer support charity Shine warned a charge might also lead to garden waste being dumped in Parkland Walk and could threaten wildlife if diseases spread as a result.
“It’s a basic service that’s already been whittled down to nothing. I understand council tax goes on all sorts of things but you expect streets to be clean and rubbish to be taken away,” Christopher said before calling for a return to weekly collections.
Cllr Peray Ahmet, Haringey Council Cabinet member for the environment said: “After years of council funding reductions, we still need to find another £20m of savings across the borough, which unfortunately means making some tough decisions.
“We are following the example of many other local authorities in making these changes to our garden waste collections.
“We are committed to delivering a good waste and recycling service and understand this is important for residents.
“These charges will allow us to continue to provide that service while helping us to continue to make budget savings and allow more of our remaining resources to go into other essential areas such as adult social care, libraries and children’s services,” she added.
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