Sir,

I have received my statement for the council tax due for the coming year (£2,018.80) which included a leaflet advising that, in future, "residents will have to register and pay to use the garden waste collection".

I understand from the One Stop Shop that the charge will be £8 per bag per annum.

What will the administration of this scheme cost?

Living in this rural area,the only material advantage that I personally get for my £2018.80 is for my rubbish to be taken away, including garden waste.

In this particular area we have five houses with large gardens and we have to take our bags up our lane to the junction with the Narth Lane, which means that there may often be up to 25 bags on the corner of the lane to be collected (at present we are restricted to five bags each but often, particularly when the leaves are falling and grass growing rapidly, we could fill many more).

How will the collector identify who has paid the annual fee from the  jumble of 25 or more bags? I cannot imagine the collector checking which bag, which I understand will have a number (if registered).

I do think that this ill-considered, scheme, which is more designed for towns, should be rejected. The result will probably lead to fly tipping and certainly to the burning of garden waste.

I read the other day that the retiring chief scientist stated that there was a danger of early global warming as there is too much CO2 in the atmosphere at present.

How do those councillors who voted for this feel about their contribution to increasing this?

If the councillors really wish to save money, and paper as mentioned in the other enclosures with the Council Tax bill, I suggest that they cease translating and printing in the Welsh language every piece of information sent out.

How many people in Monmouthshire use the Welsh language as their first language?

Obviously this would, at the very least, halve the cost of printing.

Frank Kemp

(The Narth)