A SOUTH Cumbria MP has written to the chief executive of Westmorland and Furness Council (WFC) calling for a payment that places an 'unfair burden' on some of his constituents to be removed. 

Simon Fell last month launched a petition against the fee that people in Barrow must pay to have their garden waste taken away.

The Barrow and Furness MP suggested it was unfair that residents of South Lakeland and Eden were not subject to the same charges. 

He took to social media this week to say that his petition had generated more than 300 signatures and posted a copy of a letter he had sent to WFC chief executive Sam Plum. 

READ MORE: MP calls for 'regressive' garden waste payments to be scrapped

"The charge is, rightly in my view, being perceived as an unfair burden on Barrovians," Mr Fell wrote. 

He pointed to the hike in council tax that took effect in April and said 'many assumed' this would have been 'linked to the scrapping of this Barrow-exclusive levy'.

"The message from the hundreds of residents who have signed my petition is clear and unanimous – they want to see fair and equal charges for fair and equal services," he said in the letter.

He asked Ms Plum to do 'everything in your power' to get rid of the garden waste payment.

Other social media users have, during Mr Fell's campaign, highlighted that Barrovians receive benefits – such as weekly bin collections – that those living in, for example, South Lakeland, do not.

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WFC responded to the MP's concerns last month, saying it was 'committed' to 'improving and harmonising' waste and recycling collections across the Westmorland and Furness area.

“We are now England’s third-largest unitary authority by area, delivering services to 225,000 people across nearly 4,000 sq kilometres, and the work to harmonise weekly waste and recycling collections across the whole area of the new council will be complex and require substantial logistical and contract changes," said a WFC spokesman.