Households Bin Council’s £60 Subscription As Councillors Told Only 9,600 Signed Up

Westmorland and Furness Council’s controversial £60 garden waste subscription scheme has come under fresh scrutiny after councillors were told that only 9,600 households have signed up since the service launched in April.

The figures were revealed during a full council meeting on Thursday after councillor Colin Atkinson questioned council leaders over the performance and financial viability of the new paid-for green bin collections.

Under the scheme, residents must now pay £60 per bin each year for garden waste collections. From June 29, only bins displaying an official subscription sticker will be emptied.

Cllr Atkinson asked the council to provide “clear details on the uptake to date” across different areas and questioned whether the scheme would actually cover its costs.

He also highlighted concerns over an additional £250,000 contract linked to managing subscriptions and distributing the stickers for the bins.

During the meeting, Cllr Atkinson asked whether the service would “break even this financial year” and warned that if the cost of operating the scheme exceeded the money raised through subscriptions, council taxpayers who had not signed up could effectively end up subsidising those who had.

In response, the council’s cabinet member confirmed that 9,600 households had subscribed so far, with a more detailed breakdown by locality and percentage uptake due to be provided to councillors later.

The figure represents only a small fraction of the estimated 120,000 properties across Westmorland and Furness that could potentially subscribe to the service.

The rollout has also caused frustration in some rural parts of Eden where residents have been told they cannot join the scheme because no collection routes currently cover their properties.

Critics of the £60 subscription claim the new charge effectively amounts to paying extra for a service many residents previously viewed as part of their council tax provision, while the council claim they are increasingly under financial pressure and must find new ways to fund non-essential services.

The debate over the green bin charge is expected to continue as the June deadline approaches and more households decide whether or not to sign up.