Tensions mount over Somerset plans to close HWRCs

Tensions are running high in Somerset over the county council's cost-saving plan to close four of its 18 household waste and recycling centres.

Somerset is entertaining the idea of closing the four sites – which could rise to as many as eight dependent on further scrutiny – under a raft of cost-cutting measures to help it save £43 million in its budget.

At a meeting of the full council on November 10 it was agreed that sites at West Somerset, Coleford in Mendip, Middlezoy in Sedgemoor and Crewkerne in South Somerset would be put forward for closure, dependent on local consultation.

The plan is being considered alongside the potential for the introduction of permits for residents to use the existing sites and charging for the disposal of industrial materials. These measures are intended to counter trade waste abuse at the recycling centres.

The four sites were deemed to be the expendable based on calculations of site visitation levels, distance to other locations and recycling rates across all 18 sites. It is anticipated that the council would close the sites by April 2011 and, in doing so, save £313,500 per year on operational and maintenance costs.

The precise timing of the closures is set to be determined in talks between the county council, waste management firm Viridor – which operates the sites – and the Somerset Waste Partnership (SWP), a statutory committee representing six district and borough councils and the county council on waste.

Impact

The SWP said it had made the associated risks of closing sites clear to decision-makers, which includes the possibility of increased fly-tipping or recyclable material being put in householders' residual waste.

However, the SWP also sought to downplay the potential impact of the sites being closed.

Managing director Steve Read said: “If any closure is agreed, the impact will be partly mitigated by improvements in kerbside recycling across the county through the Sort It Plus service but we do fully appreciate that it would have an impact on the users of the closed sites, other sites and potentially the surrounding area.”

The Sort It Plus kerbside collection scheme, referenced by Mr Read, was expanded to include cardboard and plastic bottles in July 2009. The scheme was further bolstered by £1.25 million of direct investment from retail giant Marks & Spencer to help finance new vehicles to carry out collections (see letsrecycle.com story).

Mr Read added that the SWP would seek to consult with residents and stakeholders to see if any alternative options that could deliver the same level of savings of the proposed closures could be achieved.

The SWP, along with Viridor, has previously received considerable praise for the its operation of the recycling centres, which achieved the highest recycling rates for any UK local authority in 2006 (see letsrecycle.com story).

“Foolish”

Local politicians and residents have hit out at the impact of the proposed cuts. David Laws, MP for Yeovil and former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, hit out at the inclusion of the Crewkerne site on the shortlist of sites facing the chop.

In a statement earlier this month, he said: “Closing down the waste recycling centres seems to be a particularly foolish “economy”. If centres such as Crewkerne were closed, people would have to drive all the way to Chard or Yeovil – hardly great for the environment. Of course, the reality is that there would be more fly-tipping, and more waste going into landfill.”

Mr Laws also hit out at the county council's attempt to find cuts, branding it a “slash and burn” approach that was going “further and faster than is necessary”.

And, Ian Liddell-Grainger, MP for Southwest Somerset and Sedgemoor, intends to meet with decentralisation and planning policy minister Greg Clark next week to discuss the proposed closure of the West Somerset and the Middlezoy sites and the potential impact on his constituency.

On the ground, over 100 Dulverton residents affected by the pledge to close the West Somerset site took to the streets on Saturday (November 20) to demonstrate against the proposal.

Organisers of the march branded the pledge to close the site as “misguided futility” and questioned government commitment to the idea of localism – as the closure would leave residents in the Exmoor area facing a 30-mile round trip to dispose of recyclable material in either Tiverton or Minehead.