Hillingdon rejected a residents' ePetition against £69 garden waste bins on 29 October, and no call-in was published by the 30 October deadline. What happens next.

Updated 1 November: no scrutiny call-in had been published by the 5pm 30 October deadline.

Hillingdon Council has refused to run a residents’ ePetition asking it to think again about the switch to £69 garden waste wheeled bins. The rejection came on Thursday 29 October, a day before the deadline for scrutiny councillors to call the Cabinet decision in.

The petition, set up by Hillingdon resident Dave Millbank, asked the council “to reconsider its Cabinet decision of 22 October 2026” and to “pause implementation pending meaningful borough-wide public consultation and publication of a fully costed assessment of the proposed changes and reasonable alternatives” (ePetition 530, Hillingdon Council).

The council’s petition page now says it “was rejected on 29/10/2026 because it seeks to overturn a democratic decision taken within the last 12 months without significant new evidence or repeats (or is significantly similar to) a previous petition submitted without material change and considered within the last 6 months.” The notice Democratic Services emailed Mr Millbank gives the same wording. Neither says which of those two grounds applied.

What Cabinet agreed

On 22 October Cabinet agreed to replace the garden waste sacks with 240-litre wheeled bins from April 2027, collected fortnightly all year, at £69 a bin and £69 for each extra bin (Cabinet minutes and decisions, 22 October 2026). The council’s report put the cost of 40,000 bins at about £1.2m and the saving at about £0.8m a year, and it recommended the change without a public consultation (Cabinet report). Our garden waste story has the full detail, including subscriber numbers by ward.

The petition lists its objections: “The substantial reduction in collection capacity and frequency”, “The difficulties faced by terraced properties without side access or suitable wheelie-bin storage”, “The disproportionate cost to households requiring multiple bins at £69 per bin annually”, the visual impact of more bins on residential streets, and “The absence of public consultation before the Cabinet decision.”

What the council told him

In a press release sent to us, Mr Millbank quotes the council’s written reply to him: “Under the Council’s Petition Scheme, a petition cannot seek to overturn a democratic decision taken within the previous 12 months unless significant new evidence is provided.” He says the council also told him that petitions have no formal role in its scrutiny call-in process, though residents can contact councillors individually.

He accepts the council may be within its rules. His complaint is with the rules:

“I fully appreciate that the Council has procedures and constitutional rules to follow. However, surely the purpose of local democracy is to ensure that residents have a meaningful opportunity to express their views and challenge decisions made on their behalf.

“The Council has approved substantial changes to a service used by thousands of households, without first conducting a formal public consultation.

“When residents then attempt to use the Council’s own democratic petition process to challenge that decision, they are told their petition cannot be accepted because the decision has already been taken.

“That raises a very simple question: at what point are residents actually supposed to have their say?”

And:

“This is no longer simply about whether residents want wheelie bins. It is about whether a local authority should be able to make a significant decision affecting thousands of households, without consulting them beforehand, and then decline to accept an official petition challenging that decision.

“I am not suggesting the Council has necessarily acted outside its own rules. I am questioning whether those rules provide residents with a fair and meaningful democratic voice.

“Residents should not have to fight simply to have their objections formally acknowledged.”

What he is asking for

Mr Millbank says he has already contacted councillors asking them to step in before the deadline. He wants:

  • the council to reconsider its rejection of the petition
  • more transparency over how the decision was reached and why there was no consultation
  • the Residents’ Services Select Committee to call the Cabinet decision in
  • meaningful engagement with residents before the changes are brought in

His particular worry is terraced homes without side access, where he says residents may have no way to get a wheeled bin from the back garden to the street except through the house. The council’s report says sacks will still be offered where a property is unsuitable for a bin, but the rules on which properties qualify are to be set later by officers.

Timeline of the Hillingdon garden waste decision: Thursday 22 October, Cabinet agrees £69 wheeled bins collected fortnightly; Thursday 29 October, council rejects the residents' ePetition; Friday 30 October at 5pm, deadline for scrutiny councillors to call the decision in; April 2027, wheeled bin service due to start.
The garden waste decision, from Cabinet to the new service. Graphic by Uxbridge News, from the Cabinet minutes and the council's petition page.
Share this chartFacebookWhatsAppX

The call-in deadline

The Cabinet decision could be called in by scrutiny councillors until 5pm on Friday 30 October. If it was not, it takes effect (Cabinet minutes and decisions, 22 October 2026). A call-in is made by councillors, not residents, which is why Mr Millbank is writing to them.

By 1 November no call-in had been published. The council’s November meetings calendar shows no extra scrutiny meeting, only the committees’ regular dates.

The rejection is not the first change to how Hillingdon handles petitions this year. In July the council raised the bar for a borough-wide petition from 100 signatures to 500 and replaced petition hearings with a written response; we covered that in Hillingdon petitions now need 50 names, or 500 borough-wide.

What it means for you

  • Nothing changes this year. The £77 sack service runs to the end of March 2027. Our bin collection days page has how it works now.
  • If you want the decision looked at again, the route is your ward councillor, and the deadline is 5pm on Friday 30 October. Councillors’ contact details are on the council’s councillor pages.
  • If a bin would be hard to store at your home, the council has not said that a lack of side access qualifies for an alternative. Councillor Wayne Bridges, Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services, told Mr Millbank in his reply to the petition: “The petition raises concerns about properties where bin storage may be difficult, particularly terraced homes. The Council recognises that circumstances vary across the borough. For properties where a standard wheeled bin arrangement is unsuitable, alternative arrangements will be considered.” The criteria have not yet been published.

Corrected 30 October: an earlier version said the council had confirmed sacks would remain an option for homes without side access. It has not; it says alternative arrangements will be considered where a wheeled bin is unsuitable.

Sources