York’s Conservative Group has criticised another increase in Labour’s Green Bin Tax after the ruling party decided to increase the annual charge from £49 to £52. Council Tax and related charges like this for waste collection remain highly regressive and it is wrong how much York Labour is costing residents whilst having such a poor record on frontline service delivery. Conservatives believe collection of all household waste is one of the most basic services the council should offer and would stop the additional charge.
In an entirely misleading press release the Labour spin machine said ‘The garden waste subscription service, introduced in August 2024, has proven popular with residents’, in reality the additional tax has proven highly unpopular but many residents have been left with little choice but to pay Labour’s tax.
York Conservative Group Leader Chris Steward said:
We have consistently said that there should be no additional charge, beyond council tax, for collecting green bins. At each budget process we have shown how we would reverse the charge and this will the same again for the 2026/27 budget. Residents are paying record levels of Council Tax and yet the service they are getting is going down and down. There are higher levels of green bin ownership outside the ring road, the areas which feel more ignored than ever by York Labour.
Residents can still drop waste off at Hazel Court and Towthorpe for no additional charge and if they want to subscribe for a green bin they can do so from 12th January and they can get more details of the scheme at York.gov.uk/gardenwaste.
Most importantly in 2027 residents can vote to remove Labour from office and vote Conservative – the only party in York committed to making the collection of garden waste a included part of residents’ council tax.
