A council could make owners of short-term holiday let properties face new charges amid concerns they "don't contribute".

Opposition members in Folkestone and Hythe say the local authority is missing out on revenue from these small businesses while still having to provide services such as waste collection.

Cllr Connor McConville, leader of the Labour group on Folkestone and Hythe District Council, told members at a full council meeting how bosses should consider establishing their own commercial waste collection service.

“We have businesses in the district which don’t contribute, being businesses they obviously don’t pay council tax, but they have our bins, our contractor collects them, and as they’re relatively small businesses they’re exempt from business rates.”

The 181 known holiday lets in the district would be expected to pay to collect waste, rather than using the council’s contracted waste collectors, Veolia.

As it stands, by registering as small businesses, owners of Airbnbs and other holiday lets are able to avoid paying any council tax.

Because the income from holiday lets is small relative to other businesses, owners can claim small business rates relief - paying no business rates to the council.

Cllr McConville added: “Small businesses in the town centre are exempt from business rates but they still pay someone to collect their rubbish so they’re still contributing in some way.”

“It’s a small thing we could look at, a small fee to these 180 and most likely growing businesses in our district, which could go a little way to putting something else that we could use towards our financial situation.”

Cllr Nicola Keen (Lab) also backed the proposals.

“I object to paying the council tax that I do when you’re picking up somebody else’s waste for free because it’s a holiday home," she said.

'I would say, in principle, yes businesses should pay...'

“I mean, we can all move out of our houses and say it’s a holiday home."

Council leader David Monk (Con) supported considering the idea.

“There are, as always when it comes to things like this, 101 reasons for doing things and 101 reasons not to do them," he said.

“However that does not take away the fact that I believe that it’s great that you came forward with an idea to actually increase our coffers."

However, the cabinet member responsible for waste collection, Cllr Stuart Peall (Con), was sceptical of the proposal.

“I would say, in principle, yes businesses should pay themselves for those services," he said.

“But we then move onto developing our own waste collection service on a corporate basis, and potentially fighting against the likes of Veolia, Biffa and other providers locally.”

Cllr Peall argued a potential waste collection service for small businesses like Airbnbs could be complicated, as the provider wouldn’t necessarily know when the property is being let, or when its owners are living there.

He added that the cost of establishing the service could be substantial.

'We have businesses in the district which don’t contribute...'

“Cllr McConville says it’s a small thing, this is not a small thing at all, it is a major enterprise to consider.”

He continued: “As a starting point: a vehicle that we’d need to use – in the region of £200,000 to purchase one of those.

“We’d need staff to run this with staff that are trained and capable of doing this and have all the relevant management as well. You’re probably looking at another £200,000-£250,000 a year to run the service.”

He claimed that to cover the costs of running the service, the owners of each of the known holiday-lets would have to pay “somewhere in the region of £1,300 or £1,400 per year, and that’s not including the cost of fuel or insurance.”

He added: “We’d need to look at the marketing to actually market this to small businesses, we’d need to look at licences, we’d need to look at billing services, we’d need to look at debt collection as well.”

Cllr Peall said he was happy for the issue to be considered by the council, “but on a huge caveat that there are reasons why only three councils [in Kent] are doing this.”

The motion was passed at a meeting of the full Folkestone and Hythe District Council.

The issue will now go before the local authority’s overview and scrutiny committee for further consideration in future.