An inflation-busting rise in the cost of collecting green waste in a Kent borough has been described as the “equivalent of a garden tax”.

Tonbridge and Malling households will see the annual charge increase from £53 to £63 from April 1 next year.

Currently, there are 28,400 subscribers to the fortnightly brown bin collection service. Residents can also pay for a second and third bin at a discount of £26 each.

But this month, the council’s cabinet voted unanimously to increase the fee for one bin by 19%, while the cost of extra bins will rise to £40 each, a 54% hike.

The opt-in service is taken up by more than half the borough’s residents, 55% of all households, but some backbench councillors expressed fears the big increase would result in a drop-off in subscriptions, possibly impacting on the council’s ambition to increase revenue.

The borough is hoping the rise will bring in an additional £157,500 a year.

Cllr Mark Hood (Green) said: “This is the equivalent of a garden tax. The increase is not required to cover the cost of the service to the council. It is entirely a revenue-raiser.”

He suggested the council was moving in the wrong direction and that a lower fee might encourage more people to take up the service, possibly increasing overall revenue but also saving the authority costs and increasing its recycling rate.

He said: “We all know that some people put their garden waste in with their black bin collection, so the council ends up sending it to the incinerator at Allington, which is more expensive than recycling green waste.”

He urged the cabinet to at least introduce a discount for the poorer members of society, perhaps those in receipt of Council Tax Support, as was already done with the fee for bulky waste collections and was done with garden waste collections by many other local authorities.

Cllr Lee Athwal (Green) observed that although the number of households subscribing to the garden waste service was high, the trend had been slightly downwards.

She was worried that such a big increase might lead to more people choosing to fly-tip.

James Clokey (Lib Dem) said: “Previous price increases had only a modest effect on subscriptions, but this is a much bigger rise.”

However, Cllr Mark Rhodes (Con) said he had calculated how much it would cost him personally in fuel to drive to the tip with his garden waste and it was £1.82 a trip.

He said: “If I went 26 times, it would cost me £47.32, so I think even paying £63 is pretty good value when you take into account wear and tear on my car and my time.”

Robert Styles, the council’s director of street, leisure and technical services, said: “We have been charging the second lowest rate of any authority in Kent. This increase will take us to about the average.

“I think at £2.31 a collection, it remains good value for money.”

But Cllr Franni Hoskins (Lib Dem) pointed out those with small gardens might not use the service every fortnight but still had to pay the annual fee. So the cost per collection would be more.

She was also concerned the rise would lead to more fly-tipping.

Cllr Hood said those least likely to be able to afford the increase were also less likely to have a car to take their rubbish to the tip.

Cllr Martin Coffin (Con), the cabinet member responsible for waste collection, told his colleagues they were looking at the matter “through the wrong end of the telescope”.

He said: “It’s an optional service. This is not a garden tax at all.

“We are offering a service and it is up to residents whether they wish to take it up.

“They could choose to compost their waste instead.

“This is a large percentage increase but the actual increase in cost is quite modest.”

Council leader Cllr Matt Boughton suggested the council adopted the increase for now and if the borough did see any substantial drop-off in subscriptions, it could consider discounts as suggested by Cllr Hood at a later review.

The charge for garden waste collection was not the only increase agreed but all the other measures were passed without discussion.

They included increasing the bulky waste collection fee (for six items) from £69.50 to £72.

The charge for a customer-requested one-off bin collection will rise from £25 to £26.

The charge for returning a stray dog to its owner, where it has had to be housed in kennels, would rise from £112.50 to £115.50 (plus the kennelling costs).

And the many varied charges for burial in a borough cemetery would also rise by 3.5% to “take into account inflation”.