while we're still arguing about communal bins

... there seems to be a new threat approaching. Here's an email I received from Amber Rudd's camp. I can't vouch for the veracity but, if it is true, it is a worrying development.


By Amber Rudd
Conservative Parliamentary spokesman for Hastings and Rye

While the debate rages in Hastings about Communal bins, there is another "bin issue" potentially sneaking up on us.
It is far more sinister. In Hastings the communal bin proposal is currently in consultation and there are vocal groups for and against. My own position is that we should have a "pilot" – if it can be cost effective. But looking ahead, may I draw residents' attention to a potentially really worrying development in the bin department?

At the end of November, laws which allow the Government to impose new charges for household rubbish collections received royal assent. Ministers have in fact confirmed that the Office of National Statistics will classify these new charges as a tax. Although bin taxes will be trialled in a series of so-called pilots, the small print of the legislation allows the Secretary of State to roll out and impose the taxes on all local authorities by Order, without any vote in Parliament.

So we are looking at the prospect of a new tax – for our rubbish. 

The Labour Government's own assessment is that two out of three homes will face these new taxes. These are new taxes – on top of the existing Council tax. You thought your bin collection was covered by your council tax – think again. Official technical documents reveal that these proposed bin taxes will take one of four forms:
• Bin bag tax: Households must pay for special bin bags. Rubbish not placed in a paid-for bag will not be collected.
• Bin size tax: Households will be charged for the size of their bin; with families requiring a bigger bin paying the most.
• Weekly collection tax: Households needing a weekly rubbish collection will pay an extra charge.
• Bin chip tax: Households will receive a bill based on the weight of the contents of their bin, with microchips in the bin feeding through to a central billing database.

Now, when our own twin bins system was introduced here in Hastings our Councillors made a pledge that they would not use the microchips for assessing rubbish and adding cost. They have confirmed that that remains the case. If Hastings is asked to pilot this new bin tax I would like to hear the response from our Council. They will send them away. We are all hard-pressed enough. The proposal to pilot a new scheme for collecting money from hard-pressed families is a disgrace. We must make sure that this doesn't happen in Hastings.