Junk Mail will send council tax bills soaring
SCOTS householders face huge council tax hikes to pay for extra rubbish collections caused by an explosion in junk mail deliveries.
Royal Mail bosses have agreed a controversial deal to deliver vastly more unsolicited letters, meaning homes face a blitz of unwanted post.
SCOTS householders face huge council tax hikes to pay for extra rubbish collections caused by an explosion in junk mail deliveries.
Many councils are currently slashing rubbish collections to only once a fortnight in a bid to cut costs.
But with an expected junk mail deluge from the start of next year, there are fears extra collections will have to be arranged with council tax payers left to foot the bill.
Through its 'door-to-door' service, the Royal Mail currently delivers about 340 million items of junk mail addressed 'to the householder' in Scotland every year.
But this is likely to double from January, when the Royal Mail scraps rules which limit such junk mail deliveries to around three a week for every home.
As a result, most homes will receive at least one piece of junk mail every day, with most of it being thrown straight in the bin.
This also raises the possibility of growing numbers of householders being fined by councils if they fail properly to recycle unwanted post.
Local authority chiefs have serious concerns about the cost of dumping thousands of tons of extra rubbish.
Councils already pay more than Pounds 30million every year to dispose of household waste across the country.
At present, three million tons of rubbish half of it biodegradable ends up being dumped in landfill sites.
With average disposal costs running at about Pounds 40 per ton or more, local authority insiders fear council tax hikes are an inevitable consequence of the junk mail blitz.
Nationalist MP Mike Weir, yesterday warned that council tax payers should not be made to pick up the bill.
'It is certainly a serious concern that if there is a massive increase in junk mail, then it could have an impact on hardpressed council tax payers,' he said. 'We have already seen council tax go up substantially in the last few years and we do not want to see council recycling services overburdened with unwanted letters which could see further tax rises.
'There seems to be a merrygo-round of taxpayers' money here and the Government needs to get a grip when it comes to the Royal Mail.' Blair Gibbs, campaigns manager of the Taxpayers' Alliance, also called for householders to be protected from soaring bills.
He said: 'If the Royal Mail think they have no responsibility in terms of the impact of what they are doing, then that is very, very shortsighted.
'At a time when ordinary families are already facing the prospect of being charged extra for rubbish collection, this new scheme by Royal Mail won' t just flood people's homes with unwanted junk mail, it could also end up costing them every time they bin it.
'The Royal Mail should think again before seeking to make money on the back of a scheme nobody wants.' The junk mail explosion comes as many councils scrap weekly refuse collections in a bid to meet ministers' targets for reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill sites.
Householders complain that this is turning gardens into vermin-infested tips, forcing many people to drive to municipal dumps to empty their own overflowing bins.
As bitterness grows, the refuse row is set to become a major factor in next May's Holyrood election.
So far, 13 of Scotland's 32 local councils have introduced fortnightly collections, with a further three piloting the scheme in targeted areas.
Furious local authority chiefs are said to be urging Royal Mail bosses to reconsider the move.
The Royal Mail has agreed to lift its cap on junk mail deliveries in a bid to boost profits, as the letters offer a lucrative source of extra cash.
The move is likely to see a mountain of competitions and sales promotions dropping onto doormats from the start of the New Year.
It is understood that postal delivery staff will be given a weekly portion of junk mail every Monday and told they can deliver it whenever they choose throughout the week.
The Royal Mail's annual pretax profit already stands at Pounds 312million and agreeing to send out more junk letters will boost this still further.
Earlier this year, its bosses were accused of issuing scare stories to prevent customers from opting out of receiving unsolicited post.
The company claimed that householders could miss out on vital government circulars including warnings about how to deal with a bird flu epidemic or advice on terrorist threats.
But independent consumer body Postwatch Scotland described the threat as ' completely untrue' and accused the Royal Mail of employing a 'fear factor'.
Earlier this month, Royal Mail chairman Allan Leighton sparked outrage by claiming that 'the people we deliver to are not our customers'.
He insisted big businesses were the firm's top priority not the 27 million ordinary households across the UK.
