Via the BBC:
From January English councils will be able to bid for pilot schemes to incentivise people for recycling more and deter them from throwing stuff away [by levying charges]…
Eric Pickles, Conservative local government spokesman, has regularly criticised the [previous pilot charging schemes as] “hated bin taxes”…
But Paul Bettison, a Conservative councillor responsible for waste on the Local Government Association said: “I wish Eric Pickles would stop calling them bin taxes. It is very galling.
“They are bin charges. They are not taxes at all. You pay for the service you get. The current system of invisible waste charges is much more like a tax.
“I know what it is like to be in opposition, but many of us Conservatives are in power in local authorities, trying to run waste services, and he is not helping us.”
Councillor Bettison said the official Conservative policy of promising a return to weekly bin collection would cost up to £2bn a year if it prompted people to turn away from recycling because councils would have to pay more landfill tax.
This figure had not been costed by the party, he said…
Mr Bettison told BBC news he would be been banned by Conservative Central Office from debating the issue with Mr Pickles, but the Tories later said Mr Pickles had been prepared to debate with him, and would be prepared to debate with him in future.
We asked Mr Bettison what he would say to Mr Pickles. He said that would be removed by a spam filter.
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2 Comments
I’ve met Cllr Paul Bettison – he’s a sound and reasonable guy. Pickles however, is a hopeless opportunist with little talent and even less vision. There should be absolutely no doubt at all about who is correct on this issue…
We all do this. The Lib Dems in Leeds have run very heavily on “Labours Bin Tax” implying heavily that residents will have to pay a general charge to get there bins emptied. Superficially Ok as the Lib Dem led Council isn’t going down the “pay as you throw” road. However I have had many a wry conversation with deliverers about the literature. When they ask exactly what it refers to and you explain the posible pilot schemes every one thinks it sounds like sensible localism/green taxes in action!