Council considers garden waste direct debit scheme

Cash-strapped Shropshire Council wants more residents to sign up for garden waste collections

A council is going to review its garden waste collection service to make life easier for residents.

Shropshire Council has said it will consider introducing a direct debit scheme from next year so households can spread the cost over 12 months.

The local authority, which has been run by the Liberal Democrats since May, is trying to increase the number of subscribers after the service failed to generate enough income in its first year.

The £56 annual charge has been frozen for the 12 months starting on 1 November but may increase in 2026 once the cash-strapped council has set its budget.

About 56% of households in the Shropshire Council area subscribed to the non-statutory service in 2024/25, generating more than £4.3m of income.

But the take-up rate is considerably lower than the 70% of households predicted by the previous Conservative administration, resulting in a funding shortfall of more than £1m.

The overestimation means the council will have to find savings in other departments to fill the hole in the budget.

David Vasmer says some residents have struggled to pay the £56 garden waste fee as a one-off payment

"The 70% target was never going to be achieved," said Liberal Democrat councillor David Vasmer, who is the portfolio holder in charge of highways and environment at Shropshire Council.

"It was ridiculous. The national average is about 55%, and they should never have assumed they would have got higher than that.

"And now there is a hole in the budget because we were expecting to get more money than we actually got.

"It was introduced in a bit of a rush last November, and a lot of people didn't know how to subscribe, so we're hoping that more people will sign up this year."

The decision to freeze the £56 garden waste fee was taken by the then Conservative group in charge of the council in February.

When asked if the Liberal Democrats will increase the fee next year when the group sets its first-ever budget, Vasmer said they were not ruling anything out because "the financial situation is so dire".

The subscription window for garden waste collections beyond November is now open.

Residents are being encouraged to sign up as early as possible to maximise the number of kerbside collections they receive.