THERE will be an extra garden waste collection for homes in York, after a mild autumn and a plea from opposition councillors.

The city council has announced a further collection round will happen in January, after the scheduled waste collections end for the winter period on Friday, November 7.

On Tuesday, opposition councillors from the Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Green and Labour Independent groups, and independent members, all signed a joint letter to Cllr Dave Merrett, the cabinet member for environmental services, asking for an extra collection.

They said that with leaves still falling, households would otherwise end up putting their garden waste into the landfill bins through the autumn, increasing the amount of landfill tax the city has to pay in this period.

As an alternative, the extra collection round for garden waste would cost around £31,000.

The Conservative group leader Cllr Chris Steward said: “The extra cost of about £31,000 can be paid from the council’s contingency fund, which we think is a reasonable price to pay to save residents the headache and expense of attempting to get rid of this waste through other means, which if not disposed of correctly has the potential of adding to York’s landfill costs.”

Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Keith Aspden said: “I am pleased that after pressure from opposition councillors and residents Labour has been forced to add another garden waste collection round in January.

“Liberal Democrats have called for the reinstatement of winter green bin collections ever since Labour cut them.

“After a mild autumn and with leaves still falling from trees across York this is the very least the council should be doing.”

He said the decision to delay the extra collection until January was disappointing, and called for a complete rethink on the cuts to garden waste and recycling services. The council has said the January collection will let it collect autumn waste and Christmas trees at the same time.

In the meantime, residents can take garden waste to Hazel Court and Towthorpe Household Waste Recycling Centres for free in a car, although other vehicles may need a permit.