VILLAGERS feel discriminated against after Durham County Council announced plans to stop collecting garden waste from their area.

The authority said it must make budget cuts and it is not practical to travel the distance to collect the waste anymore.

A total of 620 homes are no longer eligible for the kerbside green waste collection from next spring, either because they are out of the collection area, they cannot be easily accessed, they do not have a garden or are not on an adopted highway.

The council has also introduced a £20-a-year charge for eligible homes who want to continue to use the service.

The change is expected to save the Labour-run council, which faces cuts of more than £200m, £933,000 a year.

Jackie Clarke, 72, who has lived in Wearhead with her husband for more than 17 years, said: “The whole time we have lived here we have always had our garden waste taken away.

“My husband is disabled and I can’t get the heavy waste to the waste centres by myself. The council doesn’t understand that we don’t have anywhere to put it.

“Taking the service away will encourage people to fly-tip which could be detrimental to the area.”

Walter Muir, 76, of Edmundbyers, said: “Many people in the village are over 70 and wouldn’t be able to take their garden waste to recycling centres as the council is suggesting.

“We are being discriminated against because of where we live and it’s not fair. We pay the same rates as everybody else, so we should get the same service, they can’t offer it to some homes and not others.

“I understand they need to save money, but this isn’t the right way to do it, a service either needs to be for everybody or nobody.”

Alan Patrickson, head of projects and business services at DCC, said: “We have had to draw up boundaries for the new service to make it economically viable.

“While this approach has enabled us to offer the scheme to an additional 35,000 households across the county, it also means there are some properties where we are no longer able to provide a collection service.

“We have contacted residents in these properties to apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

"Garden waste can also composted or taken to recycling centres, including the new one at Frosterley which serves the more rural parts of the County.”