New charges for green bin collections are set to be brought in across Carlisle.

The move - branded a "garden tax" by critics - would see the current free garden waste collection service end, and householders instead charged £30 a year to remain on the scheme.

Carlisle City Council is considering bringing in the measure from April next year, blaming budget pressures.

But opposition councillors have vowed to oppose the move.

Labour's Chris Southward, the council's environment and transport portfolio holder, said that garden waste collections are not a statutory service and are only used by residents with gardens.

He added that the move would save the council hundreds of thousands of pounds a year, and stressed that some other councils across the country - including Barrow - have already brought in charges.

Eden council confirmed it is also reviewing its service, but no proposals have yet been drawn up.

The Carlisle plan, which is still only a proposal, is to charge households who wish to keep the collections £30 a year, or £27 for those who sign up early.

They will then receive a sticker for their bin, meaning it will be collected fortnightly, from April until November.

Residents could keep their existing bins, only paying for new ones if they are lost.

At present homes are limited to one bin, but those with bigger gardens would be able to pay for two or more if they wished.

However John Mallinson, Conservative group leader on the city council, labelled the charges plan a "garden tax".

He also accused the Labour leadership of trying to "bump through" the plans, which he vowed to fight.

"This misguided policy will affect thousands of Carlisle residents.

"Voters at least deserve the courtesy of this Labour administration allowing a full and frank public debate on such a policy, which will hit them in their pockets," he said.

But Mr Southward said at present there are many households who do not have green bins. "They may call it a garden tax, but in that case what we have now is a terrace tax - people are paying for it who do not have gardens," he said.

He stressed that the current system - which sees bins collected fortnightly from about 43,500 properties - is not sustainable.

"At present we collect garden waste and people enjoy that service. Until recently there were some areas that didn't didn't get it so we extended it so everyone got an equal service.

"The point is that we can't afford it. It's not a statutory service and it costs a lot of money," he explained.

He said the council gets some money back for the materials it recycles, but that doesn't cover the cost of the service.

Mr Southward added charging schemes are working well in other places. "This is already happening elsewhere. We are behind the curve," he said.

However since it was introduced in Barrow in April, there have been numerous complaints about the service.

Asked whether the charges could discourage people from recycling, or lead to fly-tipping, Mr Southward said he hoped it would not. "The alternatives are you take it to the tip yourself, or we offer cheap compost bins - people can use those," he said.

"Some people may burn it. The worry is that people will fly-tip, but I just do not think the people of Carlisle are going to become criminals for £30 a year. It isn't a lot for a good quality service."

Mr Southward - who said the annual charge equates to less than £1 a week - denied that he was trying to rush through the decision.

He said his first step had been to set up a cross-party working group to look at the options set out by officers.

It will now go through the council's various committees before any final decision is made. However he is confident that the charges will be brought in, starting from April 2018.

"I didn't want this to be a controversial issue. That's why the starting point was the cross party group.

"I'm not bumping it through. They (the Conservative group) would do this if they were in control. It is inevitable with austerity that we have to do this.

"I feel it's virtually inevitable. We can't spend public money on a service that isn't statutory."

He stressed that there will be no job cuts as a result of the changes, even if the take up rate drops as expected.

But Mr Mallinson added: "I call on Labour to go back to the drawing board and reassess the impact that this misguided proposal will have on the people of Carlisle."