North Northants garden waste charges back on the agenda as councillors prepare to look again at their decision

Local people have expressed fury at the proposed £40 garden waste charge, which was rejected by 80 per cent of people who answered a public consultation

A decision to charge households across North Northamptonshire an annual £40 charge to have their garden waste bins emptied is to be re-considered again tonight.

North Northants Council’s ruling Conservative executive reaffirmed its plan to push ahead with the controversial charge at a meeting at the end of September, despite weeks of public outrage.

But after the meeting, a cross-party group of councillors used the ‘call in’ process to force the council to take a fresh look at the plan, which they say could cause an uptick in fly-tipping and is unaffordable for people in the middle of a cost of living crisis.

Fury as North Northamptonshire Council say they'll plough ahead with £40 garden ...

The topic will now be discussed at a key cross-party Scrutiny Commission meeting tonight (Tuesday, November 1).

Matters are only referred to scrutiny if eight or more councillors believe an incorrect decision has been made by the authority, and they can show their workings.

The committee does not have the power to reverse the decision, but it can; make recommendations to the executive and ask it to consider them; refer the matter to full council; or take no further action which means the original decision stands.

Members that signed the call-in notice were: Cllr Anne Lee (Lab, Windmill), Cllr Martin Griffiths (Ind, Irchester), Cllr Willie Colquhoun (Lab, Lloyds), Cllr Peter McEwan (Lab, Kingswood), Cllr Ross Armour (Lab, Oakley), Cllr Zoe McGhee (Lab, Kingswood), Cllr Simon Rielly (Lab, Oakley), Cllr Lyn Buckingham (Lab, Lloyds), Cllr Ken Harrington (Con, Hatton Park).

Their reasoning was that the decision doesn’t represent best value for the people of North Northamptonshire. They believed that garden waste will end up in black bins and were worried that fly-tipping would increase. They said gardens were ‘not a luxury’, as claimed by deputy council leader Cllr Helen Howell (Con, Raunds) at September’s executive meeting.

They accused the executive of ‘disregarding the recommendation of its own finance scrutiny committee,’ which advised against the charge and said the decision was incompatible with the authority’s ‘greener North Northants’ aims.

The group said the cost should be met from reserves and recommended there should be a universal 8 or 12-month free service for all households.

Tonight’s public meeting is at 6pm at the Corby Cube. You can view the agenda here.