Cheshire East could fail to rake in the £4m it hoped from its garden waste collections because less than two thirds of the number of residents needed have so far subscribed to the service.

As from this month, garden waste will only be collected if residents have paid the new annual £56 subscription fee.

That fee could rise to £59 next year as the £3 increase is one of the proposals put forward in the 2024/25 budget consultation, which residents can comment on now.

Cllr Mick Warren, who chairs Cheshire East's environment and communities committee, and is the representative for Macclesfield East, remains hopeful the council will reach its target.

Cllr Mick Warren. (Photo:Cheshire East Council)

In a statement to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Cllr Warren said: "As set out in the council's adopted medium-term financial strategy, our garden waste recycling scheme has a total income target of £4.05m, with £900,000 of this income budgeted for in 2023/24.

"So far, almost 56,000 households have subscribed to the scheme – against the 90,000 subscriptions needed to meet the total MTFS income target – which equates to an income of around £3.15m to date."

He added: "During December and so far this month, we have seen an increase in the rate of subscriptions to the scheme and we expect this trend to continue as garden bin collections restart over the next couple of weeks and we move towards spring and the growing season."

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Residents wishing to opt-in to the scheme who have not yet done so, can find more information here: cheshireeast.gov.uk/gardenbin