It seems the council, in their wisdom, wish to charge people for taking their bulk rubbish away. Twenty five pounds actually for up to 5 items. They couldn’t have timed it better; we are in the middle of a recession where money has to be watched. On top of that there are many families, unemployed etc who can’t afford £25. This will lead to fly tipping and dumping in streets. They tried this once before and eventually gave in because of the problems it caused. Now they want to bring it back in the middle of a recession. People will not pay it and we will find our roads, paths, alleyway’s, fields etc littered with bulk rubbish that people want removing.

I agree that there should be a charge. It is over and above what i would expect a council to do but £25.00 is a joke. A nominal £5.00 to £10.00 would be acceptable and would mean people would still use the service.
I look forward to seeing more front gardens with sofas and washing machines rotting away and our local beauty spots ruined by fly tipping. Another porrly considered foolish descision by teh council.

The Council need to raise money to pay for all the green goblins. Thats why this charge has been introduced.

As an aside do you think charging people £33 and threatening Court Action to claim the entire years bill for being 1 month overdue with your Council Tax bill is really acceptable in todays climate? I know someone that this has happened to.
Surely they should only be allowed to charge £12 say as I understand the Credit Card Companies do for admin?

This Council is a disgrace and needs replacing. NOW.

yes, that is ok if you can afford it.... but there are plenty of people struggling and they just won't pay £25 for the pleasure of taking your bulk rubbish away. We will see a lot of rubbish dumped in the river or on road sides etc.

What do you mean TD&H?

The ones in charge at WBC or all of the hard working staff who do as instructed by the above?

The one's in charge

I for one think it,s totaally disgusting that we are now expected to pay for them to take our bulk items away, when chances are if what we choose to throw has any life left in them they will only pass it on to somewhere like the furniture project to sell on anyway, so i would rather pay £10 to the fp to collect it knowing it will be sold on with discounts to people living on benefits. where as always west berks council are looking for yet more ways to line their pockets. i certainly will never use there services again whilst they are charging such a stupid ludicrous amount of money. so to all you big wigs who made this decision i look forward to seeing the streets of newbury become the new rubbish dumping grounds then maybe u will realize what a very stupid decision u made in your teabreaks. p.s if i see any evidence of flytipping going on i shall look forward to sending you the photo,s i take.

The trouble is people who can't afford it won't pay.... as simple as that. It will cause more of a headache than WBC will realise.

I agree with you to a point GMR but you missed one category.

Those that can afford it but would rather just not bother and dump things where they please.

If they can afford it then there is no excuse. Maybe WBC could look at the individuals situation and if people haven't got a lot of money/ struggling then let them off?

Have been looking around and it seems most councils now charge for collection of bulky items with charges varying, for example, from £10 in Basingstoke and Deane to a hefty £30 in Portsmouth. Reading charge £23, Watford £25, but Oxford is free (at the moment). It would be interesting to learn if there is any link between fly tipping and council charges.

Just after the new recycling site opened, we had hired a transit van to move some of my brother's furniture into storage. We went down the tip to dispose of an old mattress he didn't want, and couldn't get in because the van was over 2m. We then had to drive home, ring the council, and arrange for them to collect it from the house (this was before the charges came in). What a waste of money. The council suggest using the recycling site as an alternative to paying for a collection - but how many people could fit a washing machine/mattress/sofa/etc in the boot of a car?

A lot of places/ streets share many bins so if people have anything bulk to dump they just take it to the bins and leave it.

The other option is you purchase from shops that will deliver the new item and then take th old one away. Curry's do this for orders over £150.

The only way I can see to determine who can not afford (IMHO, a reasonable cost) the £25 fee is to Means Test the household. Hardly a proportionate response.

I cycle around Newbury and I've already noticed stuff dumped that wasn't there before... large stuff. Also people are using the side of their house/ back garden to store their bulky rubbish.

if people can't fit their old washing machine in the boot of their car to take it to the tip how are they going to fly tip it?
Seems to me most fly tipping is done by people who have some kind of problem with authority & being told what to do.

Some people know people that have vans. Vans can be charged, so hence household items are dumped.

Exactly my point. They know someone with a van, but rather than go to the tip, drive off in to the countryside to fly tip. Insane.

I agree, but I think you missed my point. A person with a fridge might know someone, or own a van them selves. A van, that might frequent the tip in its normal professional duties, might be charged for dumping because it is a commercial vehicle. The charge for a commercial 'dump' is a lot higher than £25.00 I understand.

I'm not saying this does go on, just a suggestion.

In France retailers have to take away packaging from the new purchase and the item it is replacing - its the law.

I'm thinking of starting a new service - your large object transported to the tip for £10.