IN a new twist on the "bin tax" controversy Wirral Council has advertised for a project manager to oversee its garden waste collection service – at a salary of £30,000.

The local authority plan to scrap the service other than to householders prepared to pay an annual cost of £35 – or £30 if they register online.

On those figures contributions from around 1,000 homes would have to be discounted to cover the cost of adding a project manager to the pay roll.

The full time post carries a salary of £28,636 - £30,851 for a 36-hour week.

Council leader Phil Davies insisted that the new post would not cost taxpayers any further funding because someone would be redeployed from elsewhere in the authority to take the post.

He said: "It is not as if we are spending money on top of what is already being spent. We will be using savings elsewhere to fund this."

He added: "Given that we will be charging for garden waste collection we need someone to co-ordinate the scheme."

The council is seeking "a 'self-starting dynamic project manager capable of promoting, implementing and 'growing' the new service."

Its aim is to secure a minimum of 30,000 "customers" for the scheme.

Early indications show that only around 10,600 homes are so far signed up to the service, which is scheduled to operate from June.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Stuart Kelly has called for a council rethink on the issue.

He said: "People are not prepared to pay twice for a basic council service like waste collection – once in their council tax and again through a bin tax.

"There is still time for the council to accept this idea is destined to be a flop and will be damaging our recycling rates."

Wirral West MP Esther McVey has taken up the issue in Westminster and asked Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for communities and local government to look into whether introduction of the charge was a way of avoiding a local referendum on council tax rises.

Cllr Davies said: "The Tory group on Wirral Council did not object to the introduction of this charge and 26-Conservative-controlled councils in England already charge residents for collecting garden waste.

"Perhaps she should ask Eric Pickles to investigate whether or not their position is 'illegal' or not as well."

Kevin Adderley, the council's strategic director for regeneration and environment said the local authority were confident that they would comfortably be in a position to have enough households signed up to make the service viable.