March 25, 2008

A British council has decided to introduce free daily rubbish collections - like they get in Spain - as against the on-top-of-your-council-tax £40-a-year "pay as you throw" schemes being introduced elsewhere.

Good news? You decide.

"In Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, householders will have to pay for extra sack they throw out. But in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, the bins will be emptied every single morning.

"The bad news is that the service will apply only to gypsies living on five illegal camps in the area. Everyone else has to make do with once a week collections for rubbish and once a month for recycling.

"Unlike mere law-abiding, council tax-paying householders, 'travellers' will not be required to sort their waste. The SNP-run authority has decreed that even though gypises don't pay council tax, they do have 'specific needs and aspirations' and therefore deserve to be treated as a special case.

"This all dates back to a decision by the Socittish Executive in 2004 to turn a blind eye to illegal gypsy settlements on the grounds that criminal trespass was part of their 'cultural identity'. Before that, there wasn't a single illegal camp in West Dunbartonshire.

"It's not as if the council is flush with money. It has a budget shortfall of £10 million and recently asked staff to accept pay cuts.

"Nor is it sensitive to the 'needs and aspirations' of any other group. Pensioners too frail to push their wheelie bins on to the pavement have to have a note from their doctor, otherwise the council refuses to empty it.

"No doubt crash-strapped West Dunbartonshire will be the next council to introduce a pay-as-you-throw tax.

"My advice to all those hard-pressed taxpayers who want to avoid extra is to dump their rubbish at the nearest gypsy camp."

Hear, hear, once again, Richard Littlejohn, writing that in today's Daily Mail.