Charges of up to £15 may be imposed by Bradford Council for collection of large items of household rubbish like rubble and bathroom suites.

Officers are recommending residents should be billed for the free collection service, which costs the Council £480,000 a year and is subject to abuse.

They say residents should be asked to agree a charge for the removal of items, or be told to take them to a household waste tip. And they will recommend to Thurs-day's environment scrutiny committee that people should pay for removal of:

l cast iron boilers

l rubble, stone and bricks

l kitchen units

l full or part bathroom suites;

l windows and doors.

People who want to get rid of vehicle parts would be told to take them to the tip, and residents with items like asbestos and gas canisters would be referred to the specialist collection unit.

But today Bob Smith, secretary of the North Bradford Tenants Alliance, which represents estates including Ravenscliffe, Eccleshill and Fagley, said: "I am totally against it. People already pay their Council tax. The rubbish will just be dumped if there are charges."

And Thornbury Residents Association secretary Christine Watts said: "I am absolutely against it. We get a lot of rubbish dumped and this would make things even worse."

Officers say collection requests have increased by 20,000 in the past four years - up from 28,000 in 1996 to 48,000 last year - and people sometimes have to wait three months to have the rubbish removed.

They will tell the scrutiny committee it is not unusual for crews expecting to take a small number of items to find additions which can even amount to the equivalent of a house clearance. In one case a request to move just three items turned out to be weight lifting equipment, a very heavy metal bar and a heavy garden roller.

Crews are also called to move heavy storage radiators, which must be dismantled before they are moved.

Councillors will be told Bradford is one of the top authorities in the country in the amount of bulk refuse it removes.

The officers will recommend the committee to consider supporting charges for larger bulk refuse collection. A report on their decision will go to the executive committee for the final decision. And they say fly tipping must be monitored to ensure people are not dumping to avoid charges.