Tories on South Gloucestershire were elected in May on a promise of re-introducing universal garden waste collections, despite the cost. Liberal Democrats have now given them a chance to meet that promise – which they refused. At a meeting of the Council’s Communities committee on the evening of 4th November, the Conservative controlled Council considered a waste report, and refused to add green waste collections to it.

Cllr Claire Young (LD-Westerleigh) said: “The waste consultation agreed today was their big chance to meet their manifesto promise. We all know that it would be wrong to promise something you can’t deliver – so my residents are waiting for their free green bins. We were surprised when there was no mention of the free service, and proposed an amendment to help the Tories out. Apparently, they forgot what they were meant to be doing.

“We were shocked when they voted against even including consulting with the public on this. It shows that they never had any intention of meeting their manifesto promise. They were elected on a false promise, and they have to apologise to residents now. Every Tory who stood on that manifesto has been betrayed by their own committee members. Every single Tory on the committee voted against consulting on re-introducing green waste collections.

She added, “Their attempts to kick this into the long grass by claiming removing the charge was not a change of service were laughable. They’ve nowhere left to hide – they lied.”