Kingston Council has scrapped a planned £15 admin fee for new and replacement recycling and waste bins, following complaints from residents.

The new household bin charge was due to be introduced as part of Council plans to 'balance the budget' for 2021/2022.

But the authority now says it will no longer be introducing the fees, after locals got in touch to complain about the quality of their containers.

The plan had been temporarily delayed in April due to criticism from residents over the issue.

Last week the Council confirmed it would be scrapping the charges which were intended to save the authority a significant amount of money per year.

According to the Council, around 18,000 recycling and waste containers are ordered by residents every year, costing local taxpayers over £400,000.

The authority says that while it reconsiders, the quality of containers is being investigated with the supplier.

This U-turn follows a previous decision in February by the Council to scrap a planned £5 charge per bag of 'non-household waste' at the Villiers Road tip.

The plans were met with a backlash from residents and almost 4,000 people signed a petition condemning the charges.

Opposition party Kingston Independent Residents Group (KIRG), said the charges would increase fly-tipping in the borough and would adversely affect residents doing household renovation projects.

In a Twitter post on Saturday (24 July) the group recently claimed victory for the scrapping of both rubbish charges - but is still campaigning against a proposed limitation of 20 trips to the tip per year.

Helen Hinton, the leader of KIRG, told the BBC Local Democracy reporting service last week: "We're going to have to keep fighting this 20 limit.

"Councillor Sweeney was saying he didn't want fly-tipping discussing, which in the high streets is particularly terrible and a lot of that is due, I'm sure, to people thinking: 'well I can't go to the tip so I'll just dump it here'."

Meanwhile, Council Leader Carolin Kerr said: "This was considered in the context of a very challenging financial situation.

"What residents perhaps don't often see is the difficulty of balancing the budget, when you have no revenue support grant across central government."

How to apply for a new or replacement waste container

Visit the Council website to order a new or replacement recycling or waste container, free of charge*.

The Council provides the following:

• General waste (black bin)
• Paper and card (black bin with blue lid)
• Dry mixed recycling (green box) - wheelie bins can be requested for people who use more than 3 of these

•Outdoor food bin (brown bin)

• Indoor food caddie (smaller brown bin)
• * Garden waste (black bin with green lid) - this is a chargeable service .

You can order as many recycling bins you want, but can only have one general waste bin per household.

Deliveries of new containers should take up to 20 working days although the Council is currently experiencing delays in this service.

What do you think of the Council's decision?

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