Shropshire Council's garden waste charge 'under review' by new Lib Dem administration

More than half of households in the council area have paid the £56 charge to continue fortnightly collections until the end of October.

Initially, the cut-off date for subscriptions was March 31, but that got extended to April 30 due to many people being in their gardens during the Easter period.

The charge was introduced last year by the Conservatives to generate much-needed income. As of May 1, it has raised £4.3m with 77,767 households subscribing to the scheme.

Shropshire Couuncil has also confirmed it will be introducing a new, mandatory food waste collection service to all households from next year.

Councillor Heather Kidd, leader elect at Shropshire Council, said: “The new Liberal Democrat administration is committed to reviewing the way that waste services are delivered, including looking at alternative models of operation for garden waste and how we ensure we can collect food waste from 2026 as is law. We know that finances are tight, we feel there are other options we want to explore as part of a review.

“People are rightly expecting change from Shropshire Council – it’s what they voted for – and we’ve already been doing what we can during our first few days to set a positive tone, focused on delivering for residents and making good on our election pledges.”