TAKE-UP of a controversial paid-for garden waste collection has surpassed councillors’ expectations to bring in more than £280,000.

Oxford City Council thought a maximum 2,000 homes would use the £35-a-year brown bin for garden waste, which replaced a free bag collection in May.

But 10,379 homes have so far joined the scheme, with 7,505 paying for bins and a further 2,874 people on benefits getting the bins for free.

It has netted the council £262,675, while £25 or £35 non-reusable sacks have brought in a further £20,340.

However, the council said the cash did not yet cover the costs of the scheme which, along with weekly food waste collections, costs £735,000 a year.

A spokesman said: “No surplus cash is anticipated from year one of the new garden waste scheme. Any surplus in future years will be dealt with as part of our budget process.”

Around 30,000 out of 40,000 city houses had been offered a free garden waste sack by May, with extra bags costing £7.50 each.

The Labour-run council blamed charges on Government funding cuts.

Green Party group leader David Williams said: “It is the thin end of the wedge. It should be free.

“This is the commercialisation of public services.”

The council should dip into its £5.2m reserves it has “hoarded” to make the scheme free, he said.

Liberal Democrat group leader Stephen Brown was “staggered” by the take-up of the brown bin scheme.

He said: “It is a great money spinner. It is almost at the level of a Dragon’s Den-type initiative.”

Mr Brown admitted paying £35 was better than no service, but feared more charges in the future on refuse collections.

Before the new scheme was bought in, 30,000 people used the free garden waste service.

John Tanner, council board member for cleaner, greener Oxford, said: “I am surprised at how successful the scheme has been. It is more than we expected.”

He said a 24 per cent cut in Government grants meant every department had to make significant savings and not charging for bins would see streets cleaned less often.

He said: “People will have to get used to paying for this for the foreseeable future.”

Mr Tanner explained precious council reserves – expected to fall to £3.7m by 2015 – were needed in case savings “don’t come off”.

Former lorry driver Frank Sweeney who bought a bin, said: “I should not have to pay. I spent 52 years working, I paid my taxes, I never missed a day in all those years.”

The 77-year-old from Wolsey Road, Sunnymead, said: “The council tax should cover it. It is just grabbing at people’s money all the time.”

Fellow Sunnymead resident Sarah Paxford, of Jackson Road, 36, said 70-year-old dad John, from Blackbird Leys, had to stump up.

She said: “If you are paying your council tax and that is going up all the time, then that is enough for a family to pay out instead of the added extras.”

Residents get 240 or 140- litre bins for £35. Bags are £25 for 10 or £35 for 20, of which 628 have been sold.

Hessian sacks are no longer collected and bins are reclaimed by the council if the householder does not pay the £35 annual charge.