Stealth Tax on the Green, Elderly and Rural Families

I find it disappointing and depressing that Northumberland Conservatives, who run the County Council, have decided that the brunt of savings needed to balance their budget should be borne by people in the most deprived areas of Northumberland; the people who can least afford it. It shows me that they neither know nor care about the business needs of retailers and organisations who service those areas. Not content with directing savings and lack of investment against those in greatest need, they are planning to impose what I would consider to be stealth taxes on those living in these rural areas and who care about their environment. The council has a good record of recycling and sits just below its target level. As councillors we can’t understand why the cost of bulky waste collection and white goods is being forced up, People who live in rural villages like myself have much less opportunity to recycle these goods than those who live in our more urban centres; the collection service is essential for us. As well as bearing huge council tax rises, people wishing to get their garden waste recycled will be charged an additional £40 a season, a rise of 11 per cent. Taking garden waste and other items for recycling to the tip can be a 20-mile round trip and a 30-mile round trip to dispose of white goods. That’s if they have a car. People without their own transport are left with no choice but to pay unreasonably high prices for items to be collected. The council’s bulky waste collection service is the most expensive in the region. In my view these charges are an unfair burden on people living in rural areas. Every gardener is aware that a compost bin will handle the average household’s green waste but if you’re elderly, and the majority people who use the service are, then how do you handle the very heavy compost you produce? This is an unnecessary tax on the elderly in Northumberland. Not only will these stealth taxes damage the Green Credentials of the council but, more importantly, it will really hit those who are striving to live within the rules of society on fixed incomes hardest of all.