SCRAPPING garden waste collection was not a mistake because “there was no money to keep it”.

Labour leader Cllr Jas Athwal defended Redbridge Council’s decision start charging residents to have their green bins picked up, because savings were necessary to preserve vital public services.

The outgoing trial which replaced the scheme, based on paying £50 for 50 bags, has been criticised as “not fit for purpose.”

Redbridge Conservative leader Paul Canal put a motion forward in council on Thursday, November 16, to get Labour to apologise for scrapping the scheme.

Cllr Athwal said: “A year ago we made a decision because we had no money. We had over 40 million pounds to find. You look at the biggest fires to put out. The green garden waste scheme didn’t figure on the radar at the time and it wouldn’t again. It wasn’t an error because we didn’t have the money.

“Residents are facing the brunt of this. We didn’t have a chance. This is about self-serving interests. There is an election coming up. We stand by our record and we will start something next March.

Councillor John Howard blasted the motion as “one of the most self-congratulatory ever.”

The changes were motivated by £125 million worth of cuts from central government since 2011.

Cllr Canal said: “The public are tired of dissembling politicians. Let’s be honest, the proposals were ill-thought out and they failed dismally. Put your hands up and say you’re sorry.

“Say you made a mistake, the public would respect that. People are furious at the scheme’s abolition and the scheme’s replacement.”

The motion was rejected by 31 votes to 24.

Lee Burkwood, member of the Waltham Forest and Redbridge Green Party, blasted both parties’ conduct which he blamed for a motion on police station closures being withdrawn.

Mr Burkwood said: “Hoping to humiliate Labour, the Tories wasted valuable time by debating a motion which wasn’t going to make any difference to residents.

“The motion was debated for over an hour and ended up turning into a slanging match over national policies.

“When I asked on Twitter why there had been no discussion about the proposed cuts to Adult Social Care in the borough, I got a response from a Lib Dem councillor saying that as the proposals were in their draft stages, there was no point debating them.

“Adult social care affects many residents in our borough, but whether the council apologises for a mistake does not. Where are the councillors’ priorities?”

The dropping of the eight-month trial follows the Our Streets Commission report. Households with gardens will be provided with bags.