Andy Burnham has spoken out after being asked why Stockport council has introduced a controversial fee to collect green bins.

Residents now need to purchase a £59 permit to get their garden waste picked up by bin men, with the pass running from April 1 this year until March 31, 2026. There is no discount for buying a pass later in the year.

The plan was approved despite residents' criticism, leading to one Stockport resident to phone in to Andy Burnham's regular BBC Radio Manchester programme and ask: "Why are charges being introduced for green bins in Stockport when other councils are not?"

The Labour mayor replied: "This is very much the decision of the individual council. It's there if they want to apply it, some have. 

"I think, if I am being fair to Stockport council — and Trafford are moving in a similar direction — it's back to this perennial issue of local government funding. Stockport and Trafford feel they are not getting the help they should be at a national level… so they are left with difficult choices at a local level.

"I think we all feel in local government we do not get the help we should with national support so councils are carrying the can for these difficult decisions. That's the truthful answer."

The call revealed that anger has persisted despite thousands of permits being sold by the Liberal Democrat-run council. Leader Mark Hunter has defended the move, saying 'putting more onto local taxpayers is not a choice we would make' but a symptom of 'the reality we face'.

He added: "The government simply isn't funding local services properly. 

"It was only a couple of months ago that Stockport received no share of the Recovery Grant fund from the government, one of only three metropolitan councils across the country to get no money, making our financial position once again extremely difficult."

Like many councils, Stockport has had to make millions of pounds of savings in recent years — '£26m this year, £12m the previous year, and £10m prior to that', according to Coun Jilly Julian, cabinet member for finance.

"The choices that have been available to us in previous years are simply not there," she added. "Tweaks don't come close to filling the gap, and sticking plasters don't hold in the face of year-on-year challenges."

Stockport's also not the only Greater Manchester town hall facing financial woes. Trafford council was given special permission to raise council tax by 7.49 percent, and Bolton councillors were set to introduce a similar 'garden tax' until it received an unexpectedly-good grant from the government, giving the town hall £3m extra.

Trafford council was contacted for comment.