From today (6 October), the Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) in Forest Row, Seaford and Wadhurst in East Sussex will only open between Friday and Sunday, as part of moves to save the county council money.
Between October and December 2013, East Sussex County Council consulted on proposals to close the three HWRCs to ‘achieve financial savings’ of around £250,000 per year. The sites were chosen as they either received the least amount of waste (Forest Row and Wadhurst), or – in the case of Seaford HWRC – were in close proximity to a similar, more modern HWRC (Newhaven HWRC is less than five miles away from the Seaford site).
Indeed, the council stated that even if these three sites closed, 97 per cent of residents would still have access to an HWRC within a 20-minute drive, and the council would have the same number of HWRCs as ‘the average county council’.
However, after residents voiced concern over increases in flytipping and traffic congestion, the council decided to partially close the sites instead (as it was found that only a third of users deposited waste at the sites during the week), thus reducing payments to the site management firm, Veolia.
As such, from today (6 October), the three facilities will only be open from 8am to 4pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and from 9am to 4pm on Sundays. (The only exception being on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Year’s Day.)
East Sussex County Council has said that it is ‘satisfied’ the affected HWRCs ‘will be able to cope with the increased use on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, although waiting times may be longer at the busiest times’.
It added: ‘As this change in service will not provide the same level of saving as the full closure of these sites, we'll have to develop extra proposals for making further savings from the household recycling site network for consideration by cabinet in future….
‘The council has to make some difficult budget decisions to find significant savings, and we realise that closing these sites for four days a week will not fully meet all residents' expectations. However, the cabinet has listened to local views to develop a revised plan which balances the need to make savings with local need for services.’
Earlier this year, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council also reduced the opening hours of its HWRCs in the face of budget cuts, closing all four of its sites for one day a week.
Find out more about recycling in East Sussex County Council.
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