Angry Birmingham residents are noticing fly tipping is on the increase across the city. One recent account was at Frankley Reservoir in Bartley Green, where some people have decided that due to Labour’s £35 garden waste tax, that they will simply drive to the nearest area of countryside and dump their garden waste.
Labour’s unfair garden tax is an ill thought policy and the introduction of it has been completely mis-managed. You cannot start charging for something which was previously free and expect people not to be annoyed. You cannot charge people for a green wheelie bin, take their money, and then leave it months before you deliver it to them. You cannot charge people for a bin, deliver it to them, but then consistently fail to empty it on the agreed dates. And you cannot charge for green waste and not expect fly tipping to increase, and crucially not have a plan to deal with it."
But the Labour Council in Birmingham is guilty of all of these things. Getting rid of garden waste has turned into a huge problem for local people. More so if you are on a fixed income and can’t afford the £35 charge on top of Labour’s Council Tax hike.
Councillor Robert Alden, Prospective Conservative MP for Birmingham Erdington (pictured above) said "Backbench Labour Councillors are frightened they might take a knocking at the local elections and are calling on their leadership to do something about the garden tax. That just about sums Labour up! These same Labour Councillors voted FOR the garden waste charge a few weeks ago and voted against a Conservative amendment which kept garden waste collections free.
"With so many local residents switching to the Conservatives at the local elections on Thursday 22 May, it’s only now that Labour are starting to go off the idea, which speaks volumes about the quality (or otherwise) of the Labour Councillors currently running Birmingham."