THE council in York has clarified when garden waste collection charges will launch following confusion over the start date.

A limited number of households will be able to use the new Garden Waste Subscription Scheme from Monday, July 22 but the city-wide roll out has been delayed.

A City of York Council spokesperson said piloting the new system with a smaller number of households would allow them to test it before expanding it across the city.

But Liberal Democrat York Outer candidate Cllr Andrew Hollyer said the local Labour group which runs the council were running scared with the change coming close to the general election.

It comes after the council announced it was delaying the scheme’s city-wide launch after adverts appeared in print and briefly online mistakenly advertising the July 22 start date.

The scheme is set to see those who subscribe charged £46.50-a-year for kerbside garden waste collections following a council decision earlier this year.

The council estimated it could generate between £780,000 and £1.7 million based on a take up rate of between 25 per cent and 50 per cent.

Garden waste collection costs amount to around £1.87 million-a-year, including for disposal.

The council’s website stated it was no longer viable to collect waste for free and there are no legal obligations for it to provide the service.

Those who do not subscribe will see their kerbside garden waste collections end from Monday, August 5.

The council’s spokesperson said the general roll-out of the scheme would take place this summer as planned.

The spokesperson said: “The decision to charge to collect garden waste was made in January this year and will see York following 70 per cent of local authorities now charging for kerbside garden waste collections.

“This soft launch means we’ll be able to identify any improvements and ensure that we make the whole process as easy and simple for residents as can be, ahead of launching this citywide this summer.”

Cllr Hollyer said the charges amounted to a regressive tax that would hit the poorest hardest, fuel fly-tipping and see more car trips to local tips.

The Liberal Democrat said: “It now seems that Labour are running scared of the understandable public reaction to their new tax – fearing losing votes in the general election.”