A plan to trial wheelie bins in Mitcham has sparked anger from residents who fear millions will be spent introducing them across the borough rather than saving threatened council services.

On Monday the cabinet at Merton Council, which needs to make £32m savings over the next four years, looks set to approve a £115,000 six-month trial in the Lavender Fields area of Mitcham.

The aim is to see if it would be worth rolling it out across the borough to stop foxes getting at waste in black bags from foxes and prevent recycling waste being blown onto streets.

But opponents argue introducing wheelie bins, which it is claimed would cost more than £7m if rolled out across the borough for four years, would be highly irresponsible given the scale of cuts the council is proposing across public services.

Former Merton mayor Slim Flegg MBE, a wheelchair user from Phipps Bridge, will struggle to live independently if the proposed cuts to adult social care go ahead.

He said: "I'm in favour of wheelie bins but when they are proposing to cut 10 per cent and 15 per cent of elderly and disabled peoples' care packages, it's a proposal which should be binned."

Wimbledon Times:

'Plans should be binned': Wheelchair users Slim Flegg (left) and John Kelly (right) oppose the proposal

Conservative Councillor David Dean, said: "The council's role should be to provide the services residents need and to protect the most vulnerable - not mad-cap pet projects that will mean cuts to services we all cherish."

He said council officers have confirmed the wheelie bin scheme would cost £7m if rolled out over four years.

Wimbledon Times:

Street litter is the top priority for more than one third of residents, a recent survey found.

However Councillor Judy Saunders, cabinet member for environmental cleanliness and parking, said the scheme would cost "a fraction" of that amount.

The cheapest wheelie bins the Wimbledon Guardian could find online this week were £40.

Based on this the cost of buying bins for the borough's 79,000 households would be over £3m, although it should be able to secure a substantial discount.

Musician John Kelly, a wheelchair user from Wimbledon, said spending millions on pounds on bins would be "insulting".

He said: "This is a very good example of the council setting the wrong priority at a time when the very basic needs of people, in particularly disabled people could be prioritised.

"We’ve got bins but we need a life first and that's from someone who cares passionately about the environment. It's a wheelie rubbish proposal."

Posey Furnish, chair of governors at Joseph Hood Primary School in Wimbledon, who has campaigned to save Merton Adult Education, said: "I think wheelie bins would be great, but my concern would be how they have money for this but not for other things."

Most of the money for the Mitcham pilot, which will serve 1,200 households, would come from a £67,000 Government grant - to allow for two extra vehicles and crews - but the council has also ring-fenced £48,000 of its own reserves for the trial.

Residents who opt to take part in the pilot, due to start in April, will be able to keep the wheelie bins after it ends.

Defending the trial, Councillor Judy Saunders, cabinet member for environmental cleanliness and parking, said: "I’m keen to explore all options to make our streets cleaner and to ensure value for money for residents so I’m looking forward to seeing how the pilot goes. It will be a good test of whether or not wheeled bins can help."

The council's latest annual residents survey found that concern over dirty streets is at its highest level for the last decade, with more than one third of residents surveyed citing it as their top concern.

Dan Goode, founder of litter campaign group Merton Matters, said: "It's difficult. I think this one is really tricky.

"The problem with not having bins is that a lot of rubbish gets strewn around by foxes and that's an issue I see in Merton all the time.

"But I worry that the money for the bins is going to come out of budgets that are already so stretched that one of our great assets, our parks, is going to be run by a waste company."

Wimbledon Times:

On the fence: Litter campaigner Dan Goode (left) with Councillor Stephen Alambritis

Parks and waste services in Merton are at threat from privatisation by the South London Waste Partnership, as the council struggles to find £32m of savings in the face of severe budget cuts.

More than 1,300 people have signed a petition to prevent the privatisation, due to fears a profit-making company would not have the same responsibility to consult and serve residents as the local authority.

Mr Goode, who lives in Morden, bought his own wheelie bin for £70 when he moved to Merton from Lambeth three years ago because he couldn't bear to see his rubbish blown onto the street.

Sutton and Lambeth both provide residents with wheelie bins, which require vehicles with special mechanical equipment to be collected. Wandsworth, like Merton, does not provide any bins for household waste.

Currently residents either leave black bags at the edge of their property for collection, or buy their own bins from which black bags can be collected.

Every household is supplied with a lidless recycling box and advised to put card in a plastic bag in wet weather.

If it goes ahead, the results will be scrutinised by a cross-party panel before the council considers rolling it out across the borough.

Councillor Stephen Alambritis, leader of Merton Council, said: "This is a modest plan to see whether it's a way forward. That will be a question for scrutiny."