North Lanarkshire Council to introduce brown bin charge

Residents will have to pay £40 per year for permits allowing them to use this uplift service. The majority of Scottish councils are already charging an average of £44.20 per annum.

Forecasts estimate that the amount raised for the council through these charges will be around £1.5 million annually.

The SNP group presented an amendment calling for the issue to be considered under the council’s budget setting process rather than separately by the environment and climate change committee. 

Councillor Alan Masterton (Cumbernauld North) proposed the amendment, saying that although garden waste collection charges had been part of his group’s budget proposals for the current year, the administration had not taken this option and instead introduced it partway through the year.

Councillor William Goldie, seconding the amendment, expressed concern over implementing the charges without taking them into account against the full backdrop of potential council tax increases and other factors.

“I think to bring in for next year potential charges at this point actually stifles the budget process and restricts the political groupings from making their own decisions,” he added.

Environment and climate change convener Helen Loughran (Labour, Thorniewood) said that the council’s budget was “so severely purged” that the motion had to be presented, despite the likelihood of garden waste collection becoming a statutory service the Scottish Government would have to reimburse councils for.

If the Scottish Government does make garden waste collections mandatory, the council will no longer be able to apply these charges but will be eligible for compensation for the lost income.

The environment and climate change committee voted 14 to 11 in favour of the motion, thereby approving the £40 annual charge, agreeing to an update on the scheme at a future meeting, and noting the potential impact on recycling rates.