Families will be forced to pay if they want their garden waste to be collected by the council.

Three Rivers District Council agreed to charge for the collection of green waste in the district.

The fee will start at £25 in July. But in April, this will increase to £35.

People on benefits will still be charged but at a reduced rate of £20 in July and £28 from April next year.

The move will save the council £257,000 in 2016/17, £483,750 in 2017/18 and £521,500 in 2018/19.

Cllr Matthew Bedford, lead member for resources, said: “We have sought to balance the budget by a mix of efficiency savings and new incomes.

“As we made clear, this is not something we would have looked to have done in other circumstances.

“Faced with stopping the service all together, we consulted about charging and had more than 4,000 responses and three quarters of them said they would be prepared to pay up to £35 a year."

Politicians have argued the £35 charge is lower than most of the charges levied on residents by councils who collect their garden waste.