HOUSEHOLDERS could face piles of rotting rubbish for weeks under Labour’s new bin rules – all while council tax bills rise by an average of £109.
Ministers have quietly scrapped Tory plans to ensure regular rubbish collections, opening the door to tri-weekly or even monthly collections.
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In May, the Tories announced plans to provide fortnightly rubbish collectionsCredit: Simon Jones
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Environment Minister Steve Reed Credit: Alamy
The rejected proposals aimed to prevent odors and pests by putting in place a “minimum safety barrier” for councils to follow.
Those plans were left unfinished when parliament dissolved ahead of the general election.
Rather than reviving them, Labour’s new guidelines – which slipped out during a debate on assisted dying on Friday – give city councilors the freedom to set their own timetables, with no minimum frequency.
Leaked plans from Green-led Bristol already propose reducing black litter collections to once a month, sparking outrage among residents.
Labour-run Wales has made monthly or tri-weekly collections the norm, with council bureaucrats arguing the cuts are needed to reach net zero.
The new guidance also comes as households brace for a 5 per cent council tax increase – the maximum allowed without a local referendum.
For the average Band D bill, currently £2,171, this would mean an extra £109 next year, taking annual payments to more than £2,280.
Shadow communities secretary Kevin Hollinrake told The Sun: “Despite promising to freeze council tax, Keir Starmer has allowed councils to increase them by an average of £110 a year and will now allow rubbish to rot for a month.
“The British people deserve better than this rubbish and Labor must do what they were elected to do; stand up for the people, not just pander to their union paymasters.”
Labor has hit back, insisting its new rules will simplify recycling and reduce the burden on households.
As part of the shake-up, councils will be told to give people up to four bins per house as “default” to separate waste.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed has slammed Tory plans to force families to juggle seven bins by 2030 as a “fiasco” that would cause chaos across the country.
He said: “This Labor Government is introducing a simplified approach to recycling to end the postcode lottery, simplify litter collection and clean up our streets for good.”
Municipalities were left in limbo after Rishi Sunak scrapped a Conservative policy that would have required local authorities to collect waste in up to seven separate bins.
Research by the Taxpayers’ Association found that residents in Blaenau Gwent, Cotswold and Merthyr Tydfil used as many as ten litter bins, while those in Gosport had just two.
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