Council unrolls green bin subscription service for South Warwickshire areas of Shipston and surrounding villages

The district council will be introducing a charge for the collection of garden waste from April 2021.

Applications opened on January 11 with an early bird offer of £35 for each green bin for a 12-month subscription, starting on April 1.

Cllr Ian Shenton, the operations portfolio holder said: "This is a great start and shows the value our residents have for this service. The collection of garden waste is a discretionary service - one that we do not have to provide.

"Given the budget challenges we face, we had a choice to charge for the service or possibly stop it completely.

"It wasn't an easy decision to make, but we felt it would be fairer for residents to have a choice to pay for a service or not, rather than not having a service at all."

Residents interested in the garden waste subscription service can save a little money if they sign-up soon.

Cllr Shenton added: "Early bird applications are still open until the end of February.

"I would encourage anyone who would like to subscribe to our garden waste service, to take advantage of this offer and sign up now before the service starts in April. I don't want people to be disappointed when the early bird offer ends and they have missed out."

The annual charge is £40 for each green bin, but if residents sign up before February 28 they can take advantage of this early bird offer.

To subscribe and find out more about this service see the following web link: www.stratford.gov.uk/gardenwaste The introduction of a garden waste collection fee is part of a package of measures to offset a cut in funding from central Government.

The current cost of providing the service free for all 61,386 properties in the district is £1,152,525 a year.

Householders who pay to have their garden waste taken away will be issued with a non-transferable permit to attach to their green bin.

Householders who choose not to take part in the scheme have the choice of home composting or taking their garden waste to a Household Waste Recycling Centre.

Warwickshire County Council offer discounted home composting bins on their website: Composting - Warwickshire County Council

Food waste will still be collected on recycling collection weeks, even if you don't subscribe to the garden waste service using a food waste caddy. Free food waste caddies are available on request by calling 01789 260628 or emailing: [email protected]