Watford Borough Council has decided to do something which for several years it was proud of NOT doing - remove domestic refuse only once every two weeks. It has added insult to injury by deciding to impose a charge of at least £40 per annum for a service which was previously free of charge, the removal for composting of garden and food waste.

Councils are not obliged to remove garden waste, therefore when the initial decision was made to offer the combined garden and food waste service this fact should have been made clear and a supplementary charge imposed from the start of the scheme. It seems to me that these two decisions, taken together, are guaranteed vote losers; I for one will not vote Liberal Democrat at the council elections in May.

I will also not pay the £40 charge for the garden waste removal service, and I suspect that thousands of other people will also refuse to pay. I will take my garden rubbish, by car, to the Hertfordshire County Council sites at Riverside Drive, Rickmansworth and at Waterdale, thereby adding to congestion and pollution and negating any pious claims the borough council may make regarding environmental protection, etc. and I suspect that thousands of other people will do likewise! This lack of take-up of the garden waste scheme will probably render it uneconomical, and lead to its abandonment, meaning even more cars going to the dump sites!

I am intrigued by the possibility of the borough council having to dispose, in an

environmentally friendly manner, of several thousands of suddenly redundant green wheelie bins.

Rodney Salter

Eastbury Road, Watford