CUTTING a free garden waste collection service was an “easy choice to make” at a time of local government austerity, the council claims.

Redbridge Council leader Jas Athwal has defended its decision to start charging people £50 a year for having their green waste collected after both opposition groups slated it.

Branding it “woeful”, the Liberal Democrat and Conservative groups have requisitioned the plans, which means they will be sent back to a committee meeting for further scrutiny.

But Redbridge’s Labour boss is defiant his team made the right decision, citing “unprecedented financial challenges caused by the Conservative Government”.

He said: “The only reason we could provide this service was because of a Government grant the council got in 2013.

“But that grant always had a start date and an end date, which was the end of this year.

“If we were to carry on collecting garden waste for free, we would have to subsidise it with council money.

“And at a time where we have to save £42.6 million over the next five years, it was an easy choice to make.”

Cutting the service would save the council £2 million a year, which Cllr Athwal says would be better spent on protecting front line services for young, disabled, and elderly people.

But both opposition groups claim the decision is a “step backwards” in Redbridge’s efforts to improve recycling rates, currently at just 29 per cent compared with the 44 per cent national average.

The Wanstead Society has also expressed concerns, claiming that combined with new parking charges and a near four per cent rise in council tax, people in the borough are “paying more but getting less”.

But Cllr Athwal maintained: “Using council money on this service is not fair on people who don’t have gardens.

“£50 a year is a modest fee for those people who use it.

“The Liberals and the Conservatives would make exactly the same choice if they were in power, so this requisition is just gesture politics.”

The garden waste service plans will be discussed again at a Redbridge Council committee meeting on January 4 at Redbridge Town Hall in Ilford.