text: After huge pressure exerted on the Labour/Lib Dem Coalition running Hertsmere Borough Council by local residents and the Conservatives, there will be no charges made for green waste collections this year.
  Bowing to pressure and after the Conservative government provided further funding for local authority recycling schemes, the Hertsmere Labour/Lib Dem green bin tax has been dropped. For now.
  Leader of the Conservative Group on Hertsmere, Cllr Morris Bright MBE said: "We said all along these charges were unnecessary. We implored the coalition not to add to local residents' bills during the cost of living crisis by introducing their green bin tax for a service that had been free for 18 years when we were running the council. They ignored us. They ignored hundreds of residents who signed our petition opposing it. A motion by the Conservative group calling on the Coalition to revisit their decision to charge £50 per year to empty a green bin, was prevented from being heard at last month's full council meeting.
  "However, we persisted in our opposition to this tax grab by the Labour/Lib Dem coalition and they have now backtracked. Charges will now be introduced in April 2025 instead. We will continue to fight these unfair and unneeded charges.
  "We will also be demanding to know much money has been wasted on printing tens of thousands of leaflets informing resident of the charges. Another waste of public money and a waste of paper resources too."