Haddington recycling centre needed but ‘funds not there’
Calls for a new recycling centre near the market town of Haddington have been made by East Lothian Council’s leader despite having to close one just a few miles away due to funding cuts, writes Marie Sharp.
Councillor Norman Hampshire was speaking as he set out his Labour administration’s general services budget for the year ahead. It included a £75,000 saving which would come from keeping the council’s Macmerry recycling facility, which is currently closed, mothballed for another year.
The move was opposed by Conservative group leader George McGuire who wanted to see the centre reopened. However SNP opposition councillors wanted more cuts, calling on the council to lift savings to £125,000 by closing two recycling facilities.
Councillor Hampshire told a special budget-setting meeting of the council that he wanted another recycling facility but the funds did not exist.
And he said the proposals from the SNP – which, he said, would see both the North Berwick and the Macmerry centres close – went against future ambitions.
He said: “Macmerry is mothballed because of staffing and financial implications but East Lothian needs another recycling facility, probably around the Haddington area. We have no funds at the moment but we should never take that ambition away, trying to create a recycling facility.”
SNP group leader Lyn Jardine said: “We need to be honest about the lack of sustainability of two of our recycling centres and the need to not just mothball but close them, focusing our efforts on the other centres that meet requirements.”