Is Richmondshire District Council obliged to make charges for the collection of commercial waste?
A. There is no element within your Non-Domestic Rates for the collection of commercial waste, collection of commercial waste is a separate chargeable service. Richmondshire District Council can recover ‘a reasonable charge’ for the collection of waste. Charges are dependent on the amount of waste produced and a schedule of charges can be requested by contacting Fiona Close, Tel: 01748 829100 or e-mail fiona.close@richmondshire.gov.uk. Q. What is a ‘Reasonable Charge’ A. A recent High Court case ruled that charges may be considered ‘reasonable’ even if they were higher than other authorities or the private sector charges in that they may be ‘uncompetitive’ as opposed to unreasonable. An authority may subsidise it’s costs for the collection of commercial waste from it’s other revenue sources (including Council Tax) ‘but should only do so if “appropriate” (and indeed in most cases it should avoid doing so) In effect the reasonable charge should cover all collection (and disposal) costs bu
