A new petition has been set up to urge the council to drop planned changes to bin collections.

The online petition, launched by Palmers Green resident Seraphim Leonidas, brands the move to fortnightly collections “unacceptable” and a “stealth tax”.

It has been set up to force a debate on the changes at full council after a previous petition failed to do so because many of the 6,500 people who signed it did not include their full address.

Enfield Council plans to collect household rubbish and recycling every two weeks from spring 2020.

It will also carry out weekly food waste rounds and charge £65 per year for garden waste collections.

The petition, which so far has more than 430 signatures, is available here.

It needs to be signed by 3,124 Enfield residents before August 27 to trigger a debate at a full council meeting.

The petition states: “The impact will be absolutely clear and obvious: our bins will overflow and our domestic waste will most likely spill onto the streets, be it in boxes or plastic bags and, worse still, even loose; allowing wildlife to rummage through the refuge, creating an even bigger, unsightly and unhygienic, mess.

“There will undoubtedly be an increase in vermin in general.”

Enfield Council says the waste and recycling changes will allow it to protect front-line services such as adult social care and children’s services.

It needs to make savings of £18 million in 2019-20 and a further £12 million the following year following cuts to Government funding.

The bin collection shake-up will lead to savings of £7.5 million over five years.

The council has also pledged to invest an extra £500,000 a year in street cleaning.

 

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