Plans to close tips and charge for DIY waste are dropped

Hugely unpopular proposals to close two of West Sussex County Council’s tips and bring in charges for DIY waste have been dropped.

The news was announced at an environment and communities scrutiny committee meeting on Monday (January 11) and are set to be finalised at a meeting of the cabinet next week.

The plans were announced as the council attempted to plug a multi-million pound gap in its budget and would have saved a total of £345,000 in 2021/22.

There were fears that Billingshurst’s tip could have been one of those closed, and thousands signed a petition calling for it to be saved.

This week Tony Kershaw, director of law, told the council that the provisional local government settlement – how much money authorities receive from central government – meant a number of proposed cuts could be dropped.

The news was wellreceived by the committee.

Chairman Andrew BarrettMiles (Con, Burgess Hill North) said: “It’s good to see some of these initial proposals have faded away because a lot of them were unpalatable to say the least.”

Liberal Democrat group leader Dr James Walsh put the success down to public pressure, adding: “I pay tribute to the public petitions that have been signed by very considerable thousands of people across the county to oppose those potential closures.”

Also taken off the list of proposed cuts were plans to reduce the amount of support given to public transport – something that would mainly have impacted people in isolated and rural areas – and to stop subsiding discretionary bus passes for thousands of disabled people.