23 January 2013 Last updated at 12:49 ET

Lincoln households to be charged for garden waste collections

The council has already made £4.5 million in savings since 2008.

Charges for garden waste are being introduced as the City of Lincoln Council tries to save £1m over the next financial year.

The council needs to save a total of £3m by the end of March 2017.

Ric Metcalfe, leader of the Labour-led council, said the council had "little choice" and must save money because of a drop in government funding.

Six of the seven posts to go include all three urban rangers and its three sports development roles.

Mr Metcalfe said: "The last thing we wanted to do was to stop providing services that we have built up over the years.

"However, we have little choice and must now focus on providing services that most affect the people of this city.

"These decisions have been incredibly difficult to make and have been made because there were no other options available to us."

Garden waste bin £25 charge

As well as the drop in government funding, the council said there is a gap in the budget because of an extra demand on services due to the recession.

There has also been a drop in income from sources such as parking charges, the council said.

The council will charge about £25 a year for green garden waste bins to be collected, and the charge is expected to begin this summer.

It will be an opt-in service, so households which do not choose to pay will not have their green bins collected.

The council had considered raising parking charges by 10% to save £419,900, and saving £319,780 by closing public toilets.

However, these options were both rejected.

The council also intends to restructure some departments to make them more cost effective and streamline it CCTV services.

It will also reduce subsidies to external projects including the Walk and Ride bus service and Lincoln Drill Hall.

The council has already made £4.5 million in savings since 2008.