WASTE not, want not – and Fenland District Council certainly didn t want part of an old garden mower belonging to Harry Jones. Mr Jones was willing to pay the council to take away the two attachments from the obsolete ride-on mower but was told they were

WASTE not, want not - and Fenland District Council certainly didn't want part of an old garden mower belonging to Harry Jones.

Mr Jones was willing to pay the council to take away the two attachments from the obsolete ride-on mower but was told they were not household rubbish and he would have to search Yellow Pages and perhaps hire a skip.

The retired college principal, who lives in West End, March, said: "I maintain this is household waste, ie waste from a household.

"Fenland Council, though, define household waste as waste from within a house. My attachments don't qualify, even though I am willing to pay for their removal."

Mr Jones said if he did hire a skip he would be physically unable to lift the garden equipment into it.

"Perhaps I could find a private contractor who will take them away," he said, "but why should we have to go to these lengths? Should the council be allowed to continue a restrictive policy that denies a vital service to residents?

"I recognise that in this throwaway world councils have a difficult job, but Fenland seem more concerned with avoiding responsibility than helping residents."

Mr Jones is contacting Councillor Peter Murphy, the council's portfolio holder for 'Streets Ahead' - the council's strategy for keeping the district a neat and tidy place to live - to complain about the policy on removing household waste.

He said: "Nowadays we have so many things in our gardens. If the council won't provide this service they should at least have a list of local firms who will."

But after the Cambs Times contacted the council, a spokesman said as a goodwill gesture it was prepared to look at the items and there was a possibility their removal could be negotiated.