HUNDREDS of holiday let accommodation owners across the region are to set be hit in the pocket following new rules on waste collection.
Dumfries and Galloway Council is clamping down on holiday lets/national non-domestic rates properties – and is proposing to enforce commercial waste contracts on 600 short term let owners.
Council chiefs insist that the local authority is picking up the tab for rubbish disposal when these businesses should infact be paying rates for the service.
Proposed fees ranging between £146 for April-September (with no food waste) and £328 for the full year (including food waste) are to be considered by councillors at next week’s economy and infrastructure committee.
A report on the issue by Alan Mawson, the council’s interim head of facilities, waste and neighbourhood services, is due to be tabled at the meeting.
It reads: “Approximately 400 NNDR short-term let properties are already engaging with Dumfries and Galloway Council for their waste collection services.
“At present there are 600 NNDR short term let property owners who are not engaged with Dumfries and Galloway Council or who have not advised what
commercial collection service they are utilising.
“Any commercial business that is currently utilising the council’s domestic waste service for commercial purposes is causing the council to incur unnecessary costs through both un-necessary collections and subsequent disposal costs.”
“All businesses have a statutory duty to dispose of their waste via a licensed waste carrier in terms of section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
“This ‘duty of care’ applies to any business that produces, keeps, or disposes of controlled waste.”
The report also warns that the council is ready to withdraw waste collection services from holiday let/short term let property owners.
It states: “There is no legal requirement for this commercial uplift service to be provided by the council.
“The council intends to notify customers that it will cease collecting waste and recycling from commercial properties that have not registered for service.”
The charging system structure being proposed is: Standard domestic allowance (no food waste), 12 months – £292.50, nine months (April to December) – £213.75, and six months (April to September) – £146.25.
Standard domestic allowance (with food waste), 12 months – £328.90, nine months (April to December) – £241.05, and six months (April to September) – £164.45.
The council has estimated that the income generated from these new waste contracts from the remaining 600 non-council customers would be anywhere from £51,300 (40 percent uptake) to £128,250 (100 percent uptake).
