More than 300 homes across Preston are currently without a rubbish bin because people have objected to the charge to replace lost and stolen ones.

The £25 fee was introduced last year after Preston Council found it was spending £80,000 a year providing replacement bins. But, despite declaring it a success, Conservative leaders last week pledged to scrap it and charge a £10 delivery fee instead.

Coun Anthony Gornall, cabinet member for environment, revealed that around 300 people had refused to pay the charge, which rises to £28.75 with VAT.

He said: "They are currently being corresponded with by the council."
Of the 1,428 requests to replace lost or stolen bins last year, 688 householders paid the fee.

Some of the rest were paid for by social housing landlords, such as the Community Gateway Association, on tenants' behalf. A further 477 bins were replaced for free when they were damaged during rubbish collection.

Town centre councillor Michael Lavalette queried what householders without bins were doing with their rubbish. Coun Gornall said the charging policy had helped to half the number of requests from 3,500 last year.

He said: "In that respect, the policy has been a success. It has engendered a feeling of responsibility (for bins)."

But Coun Martyn Rawlinson, the Labour group finance spokesman, said: "It's an admission it was a disaster from the start. But £10 is still a lot of money to a lot of people. We want to see it removed completely."

A Preston Council spokesman confirmed that waste is only picked up by refuse collectors if it is in a council wheelie bin. Binbags and other waste containers are not collected, meaning householders face a trip to the waste tip on Tom Benson Way, Ingol, to dispose of rubbish.

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