Liverpool council admits teething issues in green bin charge scheme

The new paid-for scheme launched on Tuesday but has faced teething issues

A scheme to charge Liverpool residents for garden waste collections has been branded "farcical" by a councillor who said she has been inundated with complaints.

Residents are being charged £40 a year for the green bin collections.

Liverpool City Council said it would raise £1.7m to help plug a £24.5m budget deficit.

The council asked people to be patient as the new scheme encountered "implementation issues".

The charge has been criticised by councillors and contributed to seven Labour councillors voting against the party's budget plans.

Five of the councillors have since left Labour and forged a new opposition party with three others.

A sticker for those who signed up to the scheme by 8 April, bearing the address of the property, must be placed on the bin to ensure collection.

Councillor Carole Storey, Liberal Democrat member for Childwall, said she had been inundated by complaints from residents.

"Many residents who have signed up have not received stickers and even ones who have received them there was no collection on Monday as expected," she said.

"There was one today, but people have put their bins away.

"The way this issue has been handled by the Labour-controlled council is absolutely farcical."

She added her party would seek to reverse the charge in next year's budget.

Janet Telford, who lives on Waldgrave Road in Childwall, said she paid for the collections on 2 April and is still yet to receive her stickers, along with many of her neighbours.

She said the bin collectors came two days late and only emptied green bins with a sticker.

"The next collection is not until 2 May," Ms Telford said.

"Not sending the stickers out is the council's error so I want them to come back and collect my garden waste or give me my money back."

Abdul Qadir, cabinet member for neighbourhoods, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "As this is the first week there is going to be some implementational issues and we will try to respond to them as fast as possible.

"I know some people have not received their sticker and this is being looked into as matter of urgency."

He said if stickers had gone missing in the post a replacement would be issued for free.

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