The 39p council tax rebate over the bin rollout fell on the chair's casting vote. Some collection days change from 5 October, and affected homes get a letter.
East Suffolk councillors have rejected a council tax rebate over the Better Recycling rollout. The vote on Wednesday night was tied at 24 for and 24 against, with one abstention. The chair of the council then used the casting vote against it.
The same meeting heard that some bin collection days will change from 5 October, as the council redraws the rounds that have struggled most. Residents affected are being written to.
Everything below comes from the council’s own webcast of the Full Council meeting of 23 September and the meeting agenda. The written minutes have not been published yet.
What the motion asked for
The motion was proposed by Cllr Mark Jepson for the Labour group. It asked the cabinet to consider a rebate of 0.2% of the East Suffolk share of council tax for every taxpayer when it sets the 2027/28 budget.
On the night, the sums were put like this:
- 39p a year for a Band D household, the figure given by Cllr Paul Ashton for the cabinet.
- About £38,000 in lost income for the council, the figure given by the council leader, Cllr Caroline Topping.
Our own estimate from the council’s budget papers, published before the vote, was about 40p a household and £39,800 in total. The two sets of figures are close.
Cllr Jepson told the chamber the motion “isn’t about the rebate”. He described it as a way of rebuilding trust with residents. A recorded vote was called, so each councillor’s name and vote was read out on the webcast.
Why it fell
Speakers on the administration side accepted the rollout had gone wrong. Cllr David Beavan said: “We made a mistake. We’re sorry.”
Their objection was to the mechanism, not the complaint. Cllr Topping said the £38,000 would have to come from non-statutory services, and listed public toilets, car parks and community budgets as examples. Cllr Ashton said residents wanted to see the bins collected and lessons learned, “not 39p”.
Several opposition councillors called the sum too small to matter. One said it risked reading as an insult to the people worst affected. Others backed it as a gesture. The seconder told the meeting that 8,000 bins had still not been emptied the previous week.
When the vote came out level, the chair said they had already voted against, and so the casting vote went the same way. The motion was lost.
What changes on 5 October
Before the motion, Cllr Ashton gave the chamber an update on the service. The council has designed new versions of its hard-to-reach rounds, the ones where a disproportionate share of repeat missed collections has happened.
- The new rounds need some collection day changes.
- Affected residents are being written to, and ward councillors will be told what is proposed.
- The council is aiming for 5 October for the changes to go live.
- He singled out Wednesday rounds in the south of the district as the ones that have been hardest to complete.
He did not name the streets or parishes involved. If you get a letter, it is the letter that sets your new day. You can check your current day on the bin collection days page.
Cllr Ashton also said requests for replacement bins, bin swaps and new bins had built up over the summer. A catch-up was about a week in, with about three more weeks to go, so the backlog should clear by the middle of October.
How the service is doing, in the council’s own numbers
Cabinet members gave these figures in the meeting. None has yet appeared in a published council report:
- 2% of bins were not collected on their scheduled day last week, out of more than a quarter of a million bins and caddies collected each week (Cllr Ashton).
- The weekly collection rate was 97.85% last week, and has not fallen below 94% in any week since the last week of July (Cllr Sally Noble, cabinet member for the environment).
- The recycling rate was 56.26% in August 2026, against 44.78% in August 2025, a rise of 11.48 percentage points (Cllr Noble).
- More than 570 tonnes of food waste were collected separately in August (Cllr Noble).
Cllr Ashton said incomplete rounds are being caught up during the week, or on the Saturday or Monday after.
Christmas
Asked what extra help there would be over Christmas, Cllr Noble said the council had not run extra festive collections in previous years. She said households now have more capacity than before, with a separate paper and card bin and a food caddy. Asked whether extra cardboard left beside the bin would be taken in the week after Christmas, she said she could not give an answer yet. Our guide to Christmas bin collections will be updated when the council publishes its dates.
What happens next
- The council has promised a post-implementation review of Better Recycling. Cllr Ashton said the Overview and Scrutiny Committee will examine it on 12 November.
- Because the motion fell, the cabinet is not asked to consider a rebate when it sets the 2027/28 budget.
What it means for you
- Watch for a letter. If your round is one of those being redrawn, your collection day may move from the week of 5 October.
- Missed bins are still being caught up by the following Monday, the council says. Report a missed collection through the council’s usual route if yours is not.
- No rebate is planned. The council is no longer asked to consider one when it sets 2027/28 council tax.
- You can see how your councillor voted. The vote was recorded name by name and can be heard on the webcast, about two hours in.
Sources
- East Suffolk Council, Full Council webcast, 23 September 2026: cabinet update on Better Recycling, questions to cabinet members, Motion 2 and the recorded vote.
- East Suffolk Council, Full Council agenda, 23 September 2026.
- Suffolk Coast News, East Suffolk bin rebate works out at 40p a household, 18 September 2026.
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