Recycling merger ‘no foregone conclusion’

Council claims fate of Angus rubbish dumps are not sealed

A “stitch up” over the fate of Angus recycling centres was denied by council chiefs at a packed public meeting last night.

Residents of Kirriemuir and surrounding settlements gathered to make their views heard on controversial plans to shut the town tip and Forfar’s dump, merging the two at a new-build “superskip”.

An Angus Council meeting will today discuss whether to press on and also close Monifieth as it bids to save £250,000 from its shrinking budget.

But residents heard “there is no foregone conclusion” to do so, despite the lack of other options. The town hall meeting followed a hot Monifieth forum which delivered a strong message in support of retaining local provision.

An Angus village will not host a superskip combining two town recycling centres, a meeting heard last night.

Angus Council needs to save £250,000 from its recycling budget and last year the SNP administration supported recommendations to close the Monifieth skip and merge Forfar and Kirriemuir, possibly at Padanaram.

The incoming administration recently forged ahead with a member-officer group to find ways to keep Monifieth open, and a full council meeting in Forfar today will be presented with similar options.

At Kirrie Town Hall, council leader Bob Myles said it was one of his “regrets” a series of public meetings had not been held earlier but the last-minute meeting, and one at Monifieth last week, were “still valuable.”

“When these proposals first came forward, I was first to reject them,” he said. “We’d like to keep all the sites open and we are looking for whether any of you good people have any ideas.”

He added: “There will not be a site at Padanaram.”

Council chief Stewart Ball said continued reports of near-misses, clipped pedestrians and unsafe surroundings around a single track meant Kirrie would not stand the test of time.

“The issue with Kirriemuir and Forfar is that there are significant health and safety concerns in Kirriemuir, which is my opinion and that of independent experts,” he said, adding. “I think we can probably just get by for a couple of years but I don’t want a facility that doesn’t have five years’ life in it.”

Borrowing of around £1 million has been earmarked in the council’s capital budget for a new centre.

Local man Jim Strathearn said the town was spoiled for sites close by, while Dale Smith said: “People already travel 15 miles to Kirrie to use the centre.

“I think it would be unfair to ask them to travel another six miles to Forfar.”

When asked about the prospect of building a central site at the Orchardbank business park on the outskirts of Forfar, Mr Ball said he was aware of “strongly worded” emails from economic development colleagues to leave undeveloped land for large commercial interests.

“We are looking for whether any of you good people have any ideas. BOB MYLES

Picture: Paul Smith. Dale Smith asks a question during the meeting.