Westmorland and Furness Council's green waste subscription scheme is expected to lose around £340,000 in its first year, with the shortfall set to be covered from the council's existing budget – meaning all council taxpayers, including those who don't subscribe, will help pay for the service.

The figures were revealed after a councillor challenged the council over whether the £60-a-year garden waste collection service was paying for itself.

Westmorland and Furness councillor Colin Atkinson (Conservative Hesket and Lazonby Ward) asked how many households had signed up in each locality, whether the numbers matched the council's break-even forecasts, and whether the overall costs included the authority's additional £250,000 contract to manage subscriptions and distribute annual bin stickers.

Cllr Atkinson also asked whether the service was expected to break even this financial year and, if not, whether residents who hadn't signed up to the £60 per bin subscription service would effectively be subsidising those who had.

In its response, the council confirmed that 39,077 households had subscribed to the service by 17th July 2026, generating £2.345 million in income.

But the council also said it expects the service to cost £2.685 million to run this year, leaving a shortfall of around £340,000.

When answering how that gap would be covered, the council confirmed: "Any shortfall would need to be met within the existing approved expenditure budget."

Meaning the council loss from the subscription service won't be covered by subscription income alone. Instead, it will come from the council's wider budget, with council taxpayers who have refused to signup and pay for a green bin subscription will still be paying towards the cost of the service.

The figures show the councils green waste subscription scheme is not paying for itself, with the council having to find hundreds of thousands of pounds from elsewhere in its budget to cover the difference for this who have joined the subscription service that’s already among the most expensive in the North of England.

Should Council Tax payers still be subsidising the councils subscription service?