More tips, not just supersites, please
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE should be getting more – rather than fewer – tips, a councillor says.
A county council committee found that many of the area’s 12 household waste recycling centres were too cramped and congested, and recommended they should be consolidated into purpose-built “supersites”.
But nearly 400 people have signed a petition set up by the Independent Alliance group of councillors opposing the idea.
Councillor Francis Purdue-horan (Ind) said something needed to change but “supersites” might not be the right approach.
“My preference would be to see more sites,” he said. “We have a growing population and there is growing demand.
“Since the centre at Langar closed years ago, the whole of Rushcliffe has had to use the West Bridgford one, which isn’t a large site.
“It leads to crazy situations with queues of traffic at Bank Holidays. It can’t cope.
“We want to make it easier for people to recycle and keep centres local. The county council seems to be set on a strategy of reducing current recycling sites with ‘supercentres.’ This could mean people have to make significant journeys in their cars.”
The cross-party review began in 2022 after concerns some of the centres weren’t “fit for purpose”.
The group behind it has said changes would have “minimal operational impact”, and would still leave 97 percent of residents within a 20-minute drive of a site.
Nottinghamshire County Council says it’s “early days” for the recommendation, and more detailed work would be put in before formal proposals are made. Councillor Neil Clarke (Con), cabinet member for the environment and transport, said: “One of the problems is some sites have a lot of queuing and we need to look at the most efficient way of operating on site.
“Any petition that gets submitted will be looked at by the council. We will be seeing where sites can be improved and if there’s a case for supersites to improve the operations and make sites better for public use.
“Hopefully the public won’t have to queue long before entering the sites.”
No locations have been chosen for the “supersites” yet, although a range of council-owned sites is available. It’s claimed the changes could save up to £1.7m a year.
Mark Walker, interim service director for place and communities, said: “A number of recommendations were made by the committee’s task and finish group that undertook the review.
“These recommendations were all approved by the place select committee. These recommendations will now be considered by the council’s cabinet member for transport and environment, and cabinet.
“It is very early days with regards to any future design of the household waste recycling centre network and no decisions have been made by the council regarding it.”
The petition will be presented to a full county council meeting next month.