RESIDENTS who have enjoyed the free garden waste collection service are set to be charged £50 under new plans.

In an effort to raise cash, senior councillors are considering introducing a yearly charge per 240L green wheeled bin for the collection of garden waste over 50 weeks.

This new fee could provide Slough Borough Council a ‘significant’ income of up to £900,000, but officers warned “this is not guaranteed”.

The council is having to sell £600m-worth of assets, introduce new fees and charges as well as make £20m yearly savings until 2029 in order to reduce its £760m borrowing debt and £479m blackhole.

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Currently, the fortnightly garden waste collection service is free for 28,000 residents who opted-in and is provided for nine months each year. It was every 50 weeks, but the council moved to nine months in order to save £71,000 in collection costs.

If senior councillors approve the new charge, it will commence on November 1, 2022. New subscribers wanting a 240L green wheelie bin will be charged £45.

The green wheelie bins will remain to the existing subscribers irrespective of whether the resident wishes to pay £50 for a future garden waste collection service.

The council says the charges are in line with other Berkshire local authorities. It also stated this move could encourage more home composting.

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The current workforce will continue to be needed, but if subscriptions are lower than expected, the number of crews could be reduced to one crew and/or the number of loaders for some part of the year.

The report strongly hints the council is considering swapping its weekly general waste collection to fortnightly as a further paper will be brought to cabinet for consideration.

The decision is set to take place at a cabinet meeting on Monday, July 18.