Isle of Wight holiday let providers are being given a summer season reminder of their commercial waste responsibilities by the local authority.
Some smaller businesses, including self-catering accommodation, may not realise they have a legal duty of care to store, transport and dispose of their commercial waste in a professional manner.
Holiday lets and self-catering accommodation are not permitted by law to use the Isle of Wight Council’s household collection service.
Councillor Steve Hastings, Cabinet member for waste services, says:
“We are proud the Isle of Wight is such a beautiful place to visit for tourists but it is important our holiday accommodations businesses including farm stays, bed and breakfasts and holiday lets realise the waste they generate is commercial waste and cannot be subsidised by the public purse.”
Natasha Dix, head of waste, adds:
“The council’s household kerbside collection service is free for wholly domestic properties. However, properties being used for holiday accommodation are legally classified as commercial waste producers and are not eligible for free household waste collection services.
“It is important we are fair and consistent in our approach and that all properties producing commercial waste pay for its collection and disposal. This means ensuring all property owners are made aware of their responsibilities regarding the waste legislation.”
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Under the Environmental Protection Act (1990), all businesses (including those operating at home), have a legal responsibility to safely contain and dispose of any waste produced as a result of their business.
This includes waste produced by self-catering accommodation, hotels, bed and breakfast and guesthouses when occupied by paying guests. It also includes your own home, annexe or a caravan if you use this in the course of a business for the provision of self-catering accommodation.
Owners of furnished holiday lets that are available for booking for more than 140 days per year also need to register with the council as they count as self-catering properties on which business rates (rather than council tax) are payable.
Further information on commercial waste can be found at https://www.gov.uk/managing-your-waste-an-overview.
The council, in partnership with Amey, offers a commercial waste collection that charges for the collection and disposal of your waste. Holiday lets available to let 139 day or less may subscribe to the household waste service, although you are free to choose a registered waste carrier of your own choice.
For further information on commercial waste, visit the holiday lets and self-catering accommodation section at www.iwight.com/tradewaste or call 01983 823777. You can also email [email protected].
To check whether you should be paying business rates, email [email protected] or call 01983 823920.
I wonder how many holiday let’s are registered for Business Rates? If they were, they probably wouldn’t be in business with those rates versus council tax contributions. And if a house is lived in full or part time or used as a holiday let, what the heck is the difference in rubbish collection?
Perhaps Natasha and Steve might like to keep an eye on the stinky bags of waste that walk their way across the road to the kerbside bin next to the Conservative Club in Shanklin most weeks – that’s not domestic waste.
What “free collection “, are they kidding? We pay for it through our Council Tax. Free indeed!
And the council wonders why there is so much fly tipping. Should be collected with normal household rubbish.
What this story from the council doesn’t say, and which is the real story, is that this missive is being sent to the smallest bed and breakfast letting a single room for a few days a year – maybe by an elderly person hoping to supplement their meagre pension. It doesn’t say that the letter being sent out not only threatens to withdraw all waste collections from the property and remove all bins if it is not answered within 28 days but on the council website also demands a ransom licence of £500 to magically transform ‘commercial’ waste into ‘domestic’ waste to enable collections to continue.
The council’s press release makes the council look like pillars of the environmental establishment. In reality they are bullying small holiday accommodation providers into closing down, encouraging fly tipping and hitting the tourist trade. There are ways of encouraging people to dispose of waste correctly. This is not it.
Furthermore, it is untrue to state, as Natasha Dix does, that domestic waste services are free. These are of course paid by all householders in Council Tax. The truth is that the measures being enforced by our Council seem to be applied in a more discretionary way by other councils, particularly by those in tourist areas. Certainly the largest holiday accommodation agency in the country (Cottages.com) says that they know of no other councils which are shooting themselves in the foot in the same way. In reality, the volume of so-called ‘commercial’ waste generated by small scale accommodation providers is a tiny fraction of their ‘domestic’ waste output and what there is will be placed in the appropriate waste bin. The ransom licence of £500 (minimum) is in many cases as much as they will earn.
There must be a better way to take as much money as possible from who are in many cases, hard pressed council tax payers trying to supplement their earnings or pension and providing a service beneficial to the island.
Shame on them.