WITH West Devon’s new charged garden waste service due to begin at the end of the month, the garden waste team will be on the road over the next few weeks to talk to members of the public about the scheme.

Up until now, the garden waste collection service provided by West Devon Borough Council has been free to residents. Due to financial cuts, the council is no longer able to provide the service free of charge and is introducing a new subscribed service as it seeks to bridge a budget gap of £1.1-million by 2020.

The new charged service begins from Monday July 31. In the new service, sacks will be green and tagged with a brightly coloured permit so that they are easily identified by crews.

They will also be slightly weighted to help prevent them blowing around in windy weather. In addition, the crews will soon have the benefit of new technology in the collection vehicles which show which properties have subscribed to the service.

If there is problem, for example, a vehicle breakdown, the crew can report this instantly via the technology in the collection vehicles, which then shows the customer service team who can keep customers informed. In the longer term, the Council aims to communicate with customers through the Council’s website.

Leader of West Devon Borough Council, Cllr Philip Sanders, said: ’We simply cannot afford to collect garden waste free of charge anymore. Collecting garden waste is discretionary, which means that the council is not legally obliged to provide the service.

’However, we do recognise that many households value it and that is why we are introducing new ‘opt in’ garden waste collections instead of removing the service completely.

’Residents can reasonably say that we can manage on less money, we have up to now, but we’ve had to start chipping away at some of the edges. This really illustrates the sort of level that we’ve got to with our budget gap, it is now so tight that we are having to review things like this.’

Residents who wish to sign up for the new scheme can do so at www.westdevon.gov.uk/gardenwaste — the subscription service costs £40 per year and provides four sacks and four permits per subscription.

If residents need assistance with the online form or would like to pay by phone, please ring 01822 813671.

For more details of the new garden waste subscription service, the garden waste team will be on the road visiting the following places:

• Chagford Main Car Park — Tuesday, July 25

• National Parks Visitor Centre, Princetown — Saturday, July 29

• Okehampton Co-op — Thursday, August 3

• Okehampton Show — Thursday, August 10

• Harrowbeer Air Show — Saturday, August 10

• Chagford Show — Thursday, August 17