Ian Yuill

Liberal Democrat councillor for Mannofield, Airyhall, Braeside, Broomhill, Garthdee, Kaimhill and Ruthrieston Learn more

Conservative, Labour and SNP vote for Garden Tax

by Ian Yuill on 8 March, 2019

Photo of brown wheelie binConservative, Labour and SNP councillors all voted earlier this week to impose a Garden Tax, an annual charge for collecting garden and other “green waste” from people’s brown bins.

This new Garden Tax will be on top of your increased council tax bill.

Together with the other Liberal Democrat councillors, I opposed these proposals. We believe it is wrong to introduce this Garden Tax. Garden waste collection is an important council service.  It should be paid for from council tax.

Conservatives and Labour councillors, together with their Independent allies, voted for a £30 Garden Tax.

The SNP councillors wanted to have a Garden Tax of £35.

The Liberal Democrats will continue to oppose this unfair tax on people with gardens.

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   19 Comments

19 Responses

  1. Les Clark says:

    Garden waste is recycling, ah well if it goes through, I’ll get a burner bin and burn it instead. They’d be better off chasing these people that throw their burger packets and other such rubbish with increased fines, and commercial tippers

  2. Alan Crighton says:

    Well Ian they can collect my brown bin,i wont be using it ?

  3. Steve fyfe says:

    I live at 24 ruthrieston terrace . All residents in our street already pay a factor fee for gardening and we do not have any brown bins. Can you assure me that I and other residents of my street will not be charged the £30 fee .
    Steve Fyfe.

  4. Sheila Cameron says:

    I chose NOT to have a brown bin for my garden waste when they were issued. I compost my own garden and kitchen waste for use in my garden. Anything that I cannot compost myself I take to the Grove facility at Hazelhead. I am against the garden tax but I wish to ask for exemption from it. I am not sure when to request this. Can you advise please. Sheila

  5. Mrs G McLeod says:

    I agree the brown bin collection should be paid by the council tax.
    One suggestion to collect more council tax is to revalue houses that have added big extensions when a completion certificate is issued.
    I think it is very unfair that there are at least 4 houses in my street that have such work done and their houses are now larger than mine but are 2 Council Tax bands lower than me.
    Is there any reason why this cannot be done?

  6. My front garden is completely tarred but we have a communal back green ,(drying clothes) .If we dump the grass cuttings ourselves does that mean we don’t have to pay, also an upstairs tenant of the council has no garden .Does that mean they don’t have to pay ?
    I look forward to your reply .
    They have killed the golden goose .I am sick fed up having worked all my life ,set up a private pension which is taxed for the lay abouts who can work won’t work and all the druggies.

  7. Thomas Burman says:

    I object to paying £30 for uplifting my brown bin we hardly use it more than a few times every year but I do fill it from the Autumn leaves which get blown on to our pavement something I certainly won’t be doing if I am being charged as for food waste it can go in the landfill bin. If the council want to save money why not do a monthly collection November to April of brown bins Further than that what steps do I take to have my brown bin removed Tom Burman.

  8. marie says:

    No way we should be paying for Brown Bin collection on top of Council Tax increase. I object to this typical Labour/Conservative not realising this extra cost on pensioners and people with low income. Disgraceful.

  9. James Kinnear says:

    How is this stupid tax going to work?
    Do we hand back our brown bins if we don’t want them collected?
    Then what happens to your kitchen refuse — Another small bin?
    I would suggest the council goes the whole way and introduce a nappy disposal tax .
    Maybe tax households that have baths rather than showers
    Or more than one bathroom.
    The list goes on and on.
    Ps
    Is it true that the SNP suggested ” planting” mechanical trees in an effort to reduce CO2
    . I believe the suggested cost was in the region of £20000 per ” tree”
    I hope someone was having a joke!!
    Regards
    Jim Kinnear

  10. Iain says:

    Ian
    I have a feeling that the administration costs for this scheme may outweigh the perceived benefits, judging by responses so far. Also, I agree that those of us who happily do some leaf clearing of communal pavements, do not have the capacity to compost this in addition to our own. Do we now phone for ‘additional’ street sweeping staff as required? As for food waste, dumping elsewhere, either in other people’s bins or worse, could have potential environmental health consequences. All in all, a most regressive tax.

    • Philip Tristram says:

      Will the bin-men be checking the contents of each bin against a data-base and emptying only those bins which are “licensed”?

      Will this database be accurate and secure and meet the requirements of the Data-Protection Act?

      How much is it going to cost to administer this “tax?”

      What if I put out my food waste only and someone surreptitiously fills the bin with garden waste?

      At present my wife does drive, however if she didn’t/couldn’t and we couldn’t get to the tip we would be stuck.

      Fortunately we have a small garden – no grass and only a few shrubs and no deciduous trees. However, most volume is created by picking upon leaves from neighbours deciduous trees.

      At the front of the house, there are trees in the pavement that have been put in by the council. Leaves from these trees land on the drive and have to be cleared. If I sweep them up, where do I dump them?

      Could the leaves be considered “council property?”
      If so which department do I return them to?

      This tax is nothing short of vindictive.

      Finally, I do note what parties were responsible for this unwanted tax.

      I hope the electorate remember, and do as I will be doing – never voting for them ever again!

  11. IanMack says:

    Ian

    Is it possible that ridiculous ‘motions’ such as these are alerted prior to the council voting on them ?

    I for one would have been quite happy to attend the council meeting (if council taxpayer attendance is possible) and express my views !!

    • Ian Yuill says:

      The agendas and reports considered at meetings of the council and its committees are published on the council website. There are a small number of exceptions to publishing papers, set out in law, where confidentiality is required.

      People are allowed to ask to speak at council and committee meetings. There are some limitations to this and I am 99% certain these include the budget setting meeting.

  12. Julia says:

    I don’t have a problem with paying for rubbish collection but resent the fact that we’re paying extra to recycle. I only really use the brown bin for food waste.so wouldn’t be keen on them reducing the frequency of collecting and I’m reluctant to pay extra for it to be collected.
    We were one of the first to get the kitchen food caddy and brown bin collection and I was very impressed that the council were making an effort to introduce better recycling.
    I’m not so impressed now as I suspect most households will just start throwing food waste in with the general waste.
    Will be interested to hear how they are going to administer the tax and if it’s possible to return the brown bins.

  13. Ronnie Murdoch says:

    Ian,

    Thanks for the update very disappointed indeed this is just a
    extra tax on the citizens of Aberdeen.

    How are they going to police this, it will cost more to set it up. It will cause chaos a lot of people will start fly tipping and we know the problem there.

  14. K Christie says:

    What does my council tax go towards? My payment have increased now for the third time and I seem to be getting less and less for what I am paying. Why am I now going to be charged for picking up garden waste? The council and the current administration have totally lost the plot.

  15. Pauline Wood says:

    I was under the impression as information supplied when garden bins and food recycling were introduced, that the resultant compost would be used on the parks etc, and also available for purchase for us to use on our gardens and allotments. Therefore, why should we pay to provide the materials which we can then buy from the council! Many are planning to stop their bins, so cutting the flow needed to produce the compost that generates the income from the subsequent sale! Shows a severe lack of forethought and common sense from the council. But we are not surprised!

  16. A Taylor says:

    Would I, as a single person only putting out my bin every 4-6 weeks, have to pay the same as my neighbours who have 2 brown bins and put out at every collection? People in cars and vans already dispose of their rubbish in the communal bins near to me, which as non-residents they are not entitled to, but I reckon this will become commonplace if they have to pay a fee.

  17. PF says:

    I rarely use my brown bin – apart from Autumn to collect the leaves that fall from Council trees at the back of my house – should I send the Council a bill for the collection of their leaves!

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