Council urged to protect recycling centres

The Conservative-run council needs to save £62m during the next financial year

Shropshire Council has said it is “exploring all possibilities” after being urged to rethink proposals to close some recycling centres.

The Conservative-run council needs to save £62m during the next financial year, and it has approved a 5% council tax rise and budget cuts.

Andy Boddington, a Liberal Democrat councillor, said plans to shut two of the authority’s five household recycling centres would lead to fly-tipping.

But Ian Nellins, who holds the council’s environment portfolio, said that while there was a “potential” threat to two unspecified centres, the council was looking into ways to keep them open.

Speaking at a council cabinet meeting, Mr Nellins acknowledged that “the 2024-25 budget includes a series of individual actions or areas where we are looking to achieve cost reductions.”

But he added that the council was trying mitigate the impact on residents where possible.

“We do have to deliver savings but we are exploring all possibilities as to how we achieve them,” he said.

Opening hours

Despite no specific threat to any individual recycling centre being outlined at present, a petition to save Craven Arms recycling centre has reached 8,000 signatures.

Mr Boddington suggested that some measures could help raise the cash needed to keep the centres open, such as reducing the opening hours at all centres and increasing proposed charges for green waste collections.

He was also concerned that closures would lead to people driving further to tips, which would go against the council's net-zero goals.

Shropshire Council has requested a detailed assessment from Veolia, its waste contractor, into how changes to opening hours across all centres could affect the authority’s proposed budget savings.

The public will be able to respond to the proposed changes to waste management services when a public consultation is launched later this year.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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