Today’s “Sunday Telegraph” lists Uttlesford DC as a council planning a stealth tax on gardeners: “Environment Minister Lord Henley wrote to councils earlier this year ordering them to stop backdoor bin charges. They said that such measures can encourage fly-tipping and burning in back gardens.

“But four further councils have announced plans to introduce new charges for having their waste collected from April 2012 – Uttlesford District Council in Essex, Forest of Dean District Council in Gloucestershire, London Borough of Ealing Council and Wokingham Borough Council in Berkshire.”

Lord Henley’s warnings line up with the fears of residents at Stansted’s existing free garden waste skip just two weeks ago.  In Uttlesford there would be a double stealth tax. The district wants gardeners to pay directly for its proposed doorstep collection service. It wants parish councils – that is the same council taxpayers – to pay for any skip service that continues beyond next March. This is what the Tories used to call a “double whammy”.