Penrith and Eden residents are set to lose weekly bin collections and bags and boxes replaced with Wheelie bins, after Westmorland and Furness Council cabinet meeting at Barrow Town Hall today (9th September), approved plans to “harmonise” waste and recycling collections across the district.
At the meeting the members of the councils Cabinet agreed a series of recommendations to support a new harmonised waste and recycling service for the area that will replace the existing waste service arrangements including:
The roll-out of an in-house waste and recycling collection service as current contracts expire with the Eden contract set to end in 2027.
Adoption of fortnightly residual waste collections using a 240-litre wheelie bin
Adoption of a fortnightly kerbside recycling collection service using 2 x 180-litre wheeled bins
Provision of bespoke service arrangements for residents that cannot adopt wheeled bins
Agreed to harmonising charges for garden waste for the 2026/27 financial year as part of the Council's annual budget setting process. Any proposed changes to fees and charges will be presented for approval, as part of the budget report, to Full Council.
Councillor Giles Archibald, Westmorland and Furness Council's Cabinet Member for Climate, Biodiversity and Environmental Services, clarified that the recommendation relating to garden waste does not mean a decision has been taken on charges for garden waste collections.
Councillor Archibald said: "I have seen some reporting and commenting in the past week suggesting we were about to agree today to start charging everyone for garden waste.
"That isn't the case. What this recommendation says is that we will make any decision on charges for garden waste as part of our budget discussions, which take place early next year. That is so that we can consider the financial implications of charging or not charging against our overall budget position, which is a sensible thing to do before we make any final decisions.
"On the issue of charging for garden waste, we are determined to have a uniform approach across the council area and today's Cabinet report lays out various options that are still on the table for garden waste collections, including free collections, 'partial' charging and full charging.
"The decision as to whether to charge, and how much to charge, is a matter for Full Council and will form part of its budget review. However, I can confirm that the current view of this administration - based on the information currently available - and my recommendation to Full Council and to the public, will be that we do not charge for the first garden waste bin, but charge only for any second and subsequent bins for garden waste.
"I want to reiterate that we are not taking a decision on garden waste charging today. It will be a decision taken as part of the overall consideration of the budget and budget pressures and will be part of the budget discussions taking place later this financial year.''
Councillor Archibald welcomed today's decision on residual (general) waste and recycling collection frequencies and the containers to be used as an important step towards creating a new unified service for the whole of Westmorland and Furness.
He continued: "By harmonising services across the whole of Westmorland and Furness we will support our communities to reduce waste, recycle and reuse more, promoting a circular economy, achieving net zero, protecting our natural environment and supporting financial sustainability.
"Harmonisation makes sense from an equity viewpoint, as well as to achieve cost and carbon efficiencies, maximise the recovery and recycling of valuable natural resources, protect the environment and it reflects the feedback we've received from thousands of our residents over the past year.''
Currently, Westmorland and Furness Council carries out around 7.5 million waste collections annually to 117,000 households in one of the largest and most rural unitary local authority areas in the country, covering a geographic area of 1,500 square miles.
The recommendations agreed at today's Cabinet meeting were drawn up to reflect the feedback from extensive community engagement and consultation over the past year, with almost 3,000 people sharing their experiences of the current collection service at the end of last year, and more than 4,300 residents across the area sharing their views in a more recent consultation over summer.
Alongside this, the council also ran pilot trials of different collection methods including a trial of using wheelie bins instead of blue bags for general waste in Penrith, giving residents in the trial areas the opportunity to try out changes and share their experiences.
The first changes to collection services are expected to begin rolling out in the next few months, but the full implementation will take some time to complete with the introduction of new systems, vehicles and collection arrangements being implemented over a period of years.
The final decisions around charges for garden waste will be made by the full council later this year as part of the council budget and charges setting process and will also be influenced by the councils financial pressures that could see options from charge for all garden waste collections or a charge applied to all additional garden waste Wheelie bins beyond one after it was revealed in the meeting that in the South Lakeland area some households have 6,7 and as many as 8 garden waste bins all currently collected free of charge while in Eden some areas have no garden waste collections and in Barrow households already pay £51 a year for garden waste collections.
Cllr Bell Penrith North councillor and Cabinet member seconded the motion and said “as an Eden resident I am please to see this motion come forward to harmonise waste services and the introduction of wheeled bins in place of blue bin bags at last”
The councils cabinet members unanimously voted in support of the motion that will see Waste services across the council area transformed and collections brought back in house by the council.
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