Gridlock at Birmingham’s waste tips after council begins charging ‘garden tax’

Police were called as angry drivers found themselves stuck in mile-long jams at rubbish tips, believed to be sparked by Birmingham’s controversial “garden tax”.

Officers were despatched to the Lifford Lane tip in Kings Norton as tempers frayed because of huge demand to dump green waste, councillors were told.

A
meeting heard the city council’s decision to charge £35 to collect grass cuttings had triggered a surge in the number of people using communal
rubbish dumps instead.

Just
20,000 of Birmingham’s 400,000 households have so far signed up for the
scheme, with thousands more deciding to drop off their garden waste at the city’s five tips.

Coun Deirdre Alden (Con, Edgbaston) said drivers arriving at Lifford Lane faced 45-minute waits. Long queues have also been spotted at the depot in Sutton Coldfield.

“People are queuing for 45 minutes with the queue reaching a mile,” she said.

“They are having serious trouble getting to Lifford Lane, even the police have been called.”

Coun Alden urged the Labour-run city council to extend opening hours of the sites.

Coun
Jon Hunt (Lib Dem, Perry Barr) added: “It was inevitable that residents
would decide to take their garden waste to recycling centres once the council decided to press ahead with its ill-conceived charging policy for garden waste.

“We have all seen the long queues – and they will get longer. Not only is recycling being reduced but queuing cars are adding to fumes and greenhouse gases.”

Coun
Hunt said the Labour leadership could have kept the previous free doorstep garden waste collection by reassigning some of the £30 million being spent on wheelie bins.

The council said it was considering extending opening hours and urged taxpayers to avoid tips at weekends and from 10am to 3pm on weekdays if possible.

The
cabinet member responsible for bins, Coun James McKay (Harborne), said:
“We are always looking to see how we can make the service better with less and less money to do so.

“Extending
the opening hours would mean spending less on something else, but we’re
looking to see if there’s a way we can make it work.”