Should You Pay Less Council Tax if You Have a Green Garden?

I was going to post this tomorrow S, you beat me to it

I think this is a brilliant idea

Rewarding homeowners who retain their natural grass and a certain amount of plants with a reduction in their council tax

This was not mentioned in the article but this might also encourage those whose gardens are like steptoes scrapyard to tidy up a bit to try to get the discount

But i suppose it is a bit unfair to those without a garden , maybe they could give a small discount for those with window boxes or planters , those showing they are making an effort to go green

www.nationalworld.com/news/environment/households-keeping-gardens-green-should-get-council-tax-cuts-4111725

We would benefit and so would everyone in our area so I doubt our council would agree.

It would take a lot to administer and I'm sure there would be a lot of staff needed to process communications related to it. I feel it would be better to just have advisory information sent with council tax bills etc. Maybe the benefits to their health if they grow their own fruit and veg. I can't see much point in paying people who have grass myself. Greenhouses can be incredibly efficient at growing fruit and veg for longer periods of the year and certainly wouldn't want to penalise people who have a garden full of greenhouses but maybe no lawn. We keep importing huge amounts of food which is both damaging to the economy and environment so this is where we should focus our efforts.

Initially it sounds good but on second thoughts, although my garden is very pollinator friendly I really don't want the 'garden police' coming round to check up on me!

On a similar theme I thought they were also considering giving a discount to those who don't tarmac their drives but have something like shingle, granite chippings to let water flow?! Something like that anyway - which again, we would benefit from. (Sorry, I don't have time to look it up at the moment)

Well that would be good as I don't have a garden but no I don't think it is fair if they did that

Sounds like obeying the "green" agenda or else, they'll punish you.

The part about paying less reminded me that my parents have an apartment in a building and the owner wants €20/month (this is abroad, yes) and the thing is, they're rarely there so why should they pay a fee for something they don't use or rarely used. It makes no sense. I know there's costs, but if it's expensive for him, he could start by using eco light bulbs (5w or less) than those old ass light bulbs that consume too much.

Its a nice idea, but I'm not sure logistically how you would monitor it. Those without gardens might not be happy about it either.

Bit confused. What do they want us to do? I can no longer manage a garden with a lawn so had it paved but kept a border with bushes. I can manage to keep everything tidy and trimmed but it still takes a lot of work for one elderly woman and my back is aching after all the bending and lifting I have done today. Surely not using copious amounts of water on the garden is doing my bit?

I would sooner councils make it cheaper to dispose of green waste rather than give discount for being green. I have just paid £11 for a roll of 10 compostable green waste sacks, very expensive. People ask why don't I get a green waste bin. Well, they cost around £30 and the council want £82 per year to empty them. 2 or 3 rolls of sacks is far less. So if they want people with gardens to be greener don't charge for removal of green waste! I thought we paid council tax for rubbish removal but have to buy black sacks which have got dearer and dearer!

If you have a garden and it's green and environmentally friendly then yes. Paving is fine aslong as its not the whole garden.