A COST-CUTTING plan to charge residents for replacement wheelie bins is under review after it failed to produce the savings predicted.
As part of its budget this year, Luton Borough Council decided to charge people for replacement bins if theirs was lost or stolen, unless they had reported it as a crime.
It was thought the move would bring in £35,000 a year for the council, but early predictions show that it is likely to generate just £5,000.
In the first three months of the 2011-12 financial year, the council replaced 556 bins, and just 27 of these were paid for by residents, at £35 a time.
The council says more people than expected who are requesting replacement bins are on benefit.
And more people are happy to report lost or stolen bins to the police. In both cases the authority cannot charge for a replacement.
A council spokesman said: “We are currently reviewing the policy as it was not meeting our initial savings target that is required as part of the unprecedented budget cuts the council is facing.
“We will therefore be looking into other options for finding much needed savings.”
The spokesman added that, as far as he was aware, none of the 556 missing bins had been located.
Lib Dem councillor Martin Pantling said: “The failure to make anything like the figure put in the budget through these ridiculous charges was entirely predictable, as we said at the time.
“What’s more worrying is the suggestion the policy is now under review in the hope of making more people pay. The only sensible review of this policy is to scrap the charge altogether.”