Haringey Council is facing calls to scrap a charge for garden waste rounds after it raised less cash than expected – just as Enfield plans a similar levy.

A £75-a-year charge for garden waste collections – £55 for smaller waste sacks – raised £200,000 less than forecast, council figures show.

When the charge was introduced in 2017, Haringey Council blamed funding cuts from central Government for the move and said it would help to protect key services such as adults’ and children’s social care.

But the opposition Liberal Democrats called for a U-turn on the levy after the revenue shortfall was revealed in the council’s latest budget monitoring report.

It comes as Enfield Council plans to introduce a £65-a-year charge for garden waste from spring next year as part of a shake-up of its bin rounds.

At a recent council meeting in Enfield, Seraphim Leonidas, who organised a petition against the bin changes, branded the garden waste charge a “stealth tax” and suggested people could end up burning their waste instead of paying the fee.

Haringey Lib Dem spokesperson on the environment Cllr Scott Emery (Muswell Hill) called the waste charge a “short-sighted money grab”.

He said: “Not only is it not raising the money Labour insisted would be raised, the shortfall suggests that fewer people are now recycling their green waste.

“The time has come for Labour to accept that their green waste tax has failed and scrap it.”

The quarter one budget monitoring report says the losses on waste collections are being partly offset by income from other services and “contractor and efficiency savings”.

Haringey’s overall budget position has improved compared to the same period last year.

Cllr Seema Chandwani (Labour), cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said: “The council reviews all charges and fees on a regular basis, including garden waste.

“The garden waste service is under review and we will respond to its findings.”

Enfield Council says the changes to its waste collections – which also include a shift from weekly to fortnightly refuse and recycling rounds – will save £7.5 million over five years.

This will allow the council to protect other frontline services from budget cuts.

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