Plans to reduce the number of green waste collections will end up costing the council more money than it saves, councillors have said.

Redbridge Council’s cabinet has proposed the weekly garden waste collection should be reduced to fortnightly collections during the summer months in the hope of saving �50,000 a year.

This idea was dismissed by area committee three, which met on Wednesday in Redbridge Sports and Leisure Centre, Forest Road, Barkingside, including Cllr Harold Moth, who said: “This is an important service and we should ask cabinet members to reconsider this decision to prevent problems occurring.

“People don’t like holding on to their onto their garden waste and the lorry will have problems if there is a backlog and must collect double.”

Cllr Joyce Ryan said: “I get through two or three bags a week in the summer which, if there was no weekly collection, would end up in the dustbin or the tip which is not a good situation at all.”

But Cllr David Poole disagreed. He said: “People managed before, which was not so long ago, and we could look into things like home composting.”

Cllr Nick Hayes suggested that before regular collections were introduced, people would leave their rubbish in other waste streams causing a huge expense.

He said: “The collection is environmentally beneficial and cost effective and if this changed we would be in a far worse situation.”

Chairman of the committee , Cllr Alex Phillips, who summed up the opinion of the majority, said: “We should keep weekly pick-ups to prevent more waste going to landfill, costing more money which has not been taken into account by the cabinet.

“The saving would not be �50,000 and it would also be helpful to make people aware of the extra cost that can easily be prevented.”