Devon Tory Councillors are proposing to limit free recycling for Devon charities
Not content with leaving their national counterparts to attack the giving sector, Devon Tories are looking to do their bit in hammering charities.
Nationally, the Tories have imposed a budget cap on tax relief for charitable donations.
Now locally, Devon Conservatives are contemplating introducing charging for charities to dispose of waste at recycling centres, says Newton Abbot’s County Councillor Gordon Hook.
On his site Gordon says, “Traditionally Devon’s charitable organisations have been allowed to dispose of household waste/surplus donated goods for free. Last year (2010/11) the county council had 73 charity groups registered and disposed of 415 tonnes of waste from them for free.
“It is now being proposed that a limit of 15 tonnes per year per organisation will be accepted free and the remainder charged.
“This, it is suggested, will hit 10 of the charities in Devon and save the county all of £13,000 pa.”
The charities which would be affected are PDSA (South Hams); Mare and Foul Sanctuary; British Heart Foundation; Jigsaw; RIO; PDSA (Exeter); FORCE; Refurnish; SMR Phoenix; North Devon Hospice.
If you think this proposal stinks, write and tell the county councillor who will decide on the matter, it’s mister incinerator himself, Cllr Roger Croad c/o Devon County Council. County Hall. Topsham Road. Exeter.
(image: Devon County Hall clock tower. This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. See this photograph’s page on the Geograph website for the photographer’s contact details. The copyright on this image is owned by Derek Harper and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.)
