THE only council in the region not offering regular green waste collections has unveiled a plan to charge residents £35 a year for the service.

Darlington Borough Council’s leading members will launch a public consultation exercise to gauge whether a sufficient number of residents in the borough’s 39,410 houses with gardens are interested in paying for a 240-litre bin to be emptied fortnightly, from April to November.

An officers’ report to a meeting of the authority’s cabinet stated over the past two years, residents had taken nearly 6,800 tonnes of garden waste to its household waste recycling centre, while others composted it or put it into their general waste.

The Labour-run authority’s current offer to residents to collect ten green sacks for £8.53 had only been taken up by about 650 homes, the report said.

The officers’ report said introducing the new service would be dependent on potential take up from the initial proposed consultation with residents. To break even, 6,000 homes would need to sign up for the scheme.

While some nearby councils do not charge for the service, the proposed £35 charge is the same as that in nearby Hambleton district and next year’s price in County Durham.

Last month it was revealed councils across the UK were charging almost £74m annually between them for garden waste collection.

The national average cost to residents was found to be £42.40 a year. The lowest average costs were £18 a year in Monmouthshire and £22 a year in Richmond.

The officers’ report stated: “Resources have never been available in Darlington to introduce a free garden waste collection service, however as charging for a fortnightly collection service is now common practice across the north-east and nationally, members may want to consider introducing a new service.”

Darlington council’s leisure and environment boss, Councillor Nick Wallis, said cutting the number of trips to the recycling centre would save residents’ money, have a positive impact on congestion, recycling rates and air quality in the town. He added it was important there was a charge for the service.

Cllr Wallis said: “It would be invidious as a local authority to subsidise waste collection for some residents who have gardens when there are many residents who don’t have gardens.

“As long as we are aspiring for it to break even it is perfectly reasonable.”

Tory group leader Councillor Heather Scott said she believed the proposal would prove popular.