‘People paying £59 should get refunds if green bin service fails’
People in Stockport who paid £59 for a garden waste permit should get refunded when things go wrong, a councillor has said.
Cllr Joe Barratt, deputy leader of the council's opposition Labour group, said residents 'deserve a clear response, not silence' when asking for their money back.
It comes after Woodley resident Michael Baker asked the council for a partial refund after two regular collections and one recollection of his green bin were missed.
He was given an apology but not refunded and claimed the council had treated him like 'rubbish' during the process.
Stockport council said it understands how frustrating a missed collection can b and is sorry when things don't go to plan.
"If residents are paying for a service, they should be able to rely on it," Cllr Barratt said.
"When things go wrong, they deserve a clear response, not silence. The Liberal Democrat administration needs to get a grip on the problems that have occurred since the introduction of the green bin permit scheme and make sure people are treated fairly.
"If the service isn't delivered, residents should be entitled to a refund. It's as simple as that."
Stockport council's terms and conditions for the garden waste permit does have a refund policy.
This states that refunds 'will be considered' if a service failure happens, including when the council fails to collect a garden waste wheelie bin, and after being told, fails to rectify the reported missed collection of garden waste on three consecutive nominated collection days.
Any refunds would be 'calculated on a pro-rata basis', the policy adds.
A council spokesperson said it has added extra crews to respond quickly to any missed collections being made.
They added: "While mistakes are rare, we're committed to putting them right. More than 99 per cent of bins are still collected on time every week, and we remain focused on delivering a high-quality service for our residents."
Stockport introduced the £59 charge for garden waste collections to help balance the books after having to find £26m in savings in its latest budget.
Council leader Mark Roberts said: "Our hard working bin crews lift over a million bins each month, walking around 10 miles each day in steel toe cap boots, and yet they achieve a 99.25 per cent collection rate.
"There is no 'problem' that we 'need to get a grip' of at all, rather a very high performing service doing a very difficult job extremely well.
"Sometimes things do go wrong – it is inevitable in a service of this scale – but I know the team work hard to resolve issues for residents as they arise."
Cllr Roberts hit back at Stockport's opposition Labour group and the government.
"Labour councillors would do well to remember why this additional charge was necessary.
"Successive governments have not given councils the money they need to deliver the statutory services we must deliver.
"Had we got a fair share of the £600m Recovery Grant that the Labour government distributed earlier in the year, the charge for green bin collections would not have been necessary. Instead we got absolutely nothing."
Take up of Stockport's garden waste permit has been high, with the council saying in May that more than 53,000 had been sold.
Some of these were sold at the discounted rate of £39 for those getting council tax support.
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