Thousands of green bins in Atherstone and district will not be collected in future without householders forking out an annual fee of £40 for a Tory "stealth tax", councillors have claimed.

June 1 is the date the new charge for garden waste collection will begin despite a rearguard action by Labour on North Warwickshire Borough Council to "bin" the proposals.

Opposition members claimed they had been inundated with "angry residents" complaining about the unpopularity of the proposed new payment scheme for the area's current garden waste service that could have a huge turn-round effect on the local authority's finances as it seeks to make £1.7 million in savings over the next three years.

The ruling Conservative group on the borough council said the decision to impose the fee on those who wish to continue with the collection service was "not made lightly or with any enthusiasm", but as a direct result of pressures on budgets.

It pointed to neighbouring authorities in Nuneaton, Tamworth and Hinckley, along with 59 per cent of UK local councils, already charging for green bin collection and in addition there is no statutory requirement to collect garden waste from households – only recycling in red bins and residual waste in black ones.

At full council in Atherstone last night, Labour saw red on the green bin charging scheme with Councillor Simon Rose saying it was being forced on North Warwickshire by central government despite it being a "very unpopular" proposal.

"It is a back-door council tax increase", he argued.

Labour Councillor Jack Deakin launched a personal broadside on the Tories after being "inundated" with emails, phone and messages on social media complaining about the upcoming charge.

He said: "Whatever your political party on this council, it's fair to say that this has angered the residents who sent us here to represent them; rightly so.

"A sum of £40 a year may not seem like much to some, and perhaps some of us in here could perhaps weather paying it, but for some that simply isn't the case."

He accepted he was under "no illusion" that local government is being told to make difficult decisions when it comes to budgets, but asked: "Has this administration considered all our options and the consequences attached to it?

"I don't believe that to be true.

"Savings have to be made, I understand that, but plugging the gap and passing that burden onto my residents simply is not acceptable, not in the current economic climate and not when times are already tough for many of our residents as austerity continues to kick the most vulnerable."

Labour colleague, Councillor Dave Parsons, joined in the opposition rebellion, adding: "This is a charge already being levied. There are alternatives. "This is a surcharge and effectively a stealth tax. Urging the full council to "think again", he added: "Those most vulnerable are being persecuted again," complaining it was shifting the burden of taxation away from central government and piling it onto local government. Councillor Adam Farrell, Labour opposition leader on the borough council, said he had been elected to serve the people based on protecting refuse services. He added: "We should scrap this Tory tax for green waste collection", and asked: "How can it be good for residents." Three options for dealing with garden waste disposal in the borough were on the table for consideration. One involved stopping collection altogether while a second proposed increasing the council tax over and above the amount permitted by Government each year to cover the cost.

But the Tory-controlled authority considered it "unfair" to charge everyone for green bin collection as people living in flats do not use it while other residents value the garden waste service and wouldn't want to see it removed.

A Labour amendment to stop the charge going through was defeated by 18 votes to 13 as Tory Councillor Margaret Bell added: "This will encourage people to do their own composting as well as more green use."

The most dramatic suggestion tied in with implementing the scheme involves setting up a North Warwickshire Gardeners' Club to "add value and offset the cost to residents of charging for garden collections".

The "enterprising idea" involves providing discount vouchers or promotions with local garden centres to encourage sign up.

The council currently collects garden and food waste fortnightly in a 240 litre green lidded bin and the annual cost of delivering the garden waste collection to every home in the borough is just short of £500,000.

In 2018 the authority introduced the Extra Garden Waste Service allowing residents to choose to have more than one green bin emptied at an annual fee of £40 per bin. Some 461 households are signed up to the service, producing an income of £17,000

Factoring on a 55 per cent take-up in North Warwickshire – with net income on a lower premise – the authority can expect to make in the range of £377,000 and £514,000 a year, bringing a turnround effect of £1 million on council finances.

The proposals comes as research by the Local Government Information Unit reveals North Warwickshire, like 97 per cent of councils in England, will to make significant cuts to revenue budgets in 2020/2021 through a combination of cost savings and increasing fees and charges.

Now the scheme has got the green light, a further report detailing how the service will be promoted, introduced and delivered will come before the council's next Community and Environment Board meeting.