All four of Rotherham's household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) will close for one day a week from April 2014, it has been announced.
Currently, the HWRCs at Warren Vale, Lidget Lane, Car Hill, and Magilla are open every day from 10 am until 6.30 pm between 1 April and 30 September, and from 10 am until 4 pm between 1 October and 31 March. However, under the trial plans, between April and September 2014, each site will only open six days a week.
The council told Resource that closures will run mid-week (between Tuesday and Friday) so as to minimise disruption to residents.
The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting at the town hall last Wednesday (12 February), and forms part of the council’s plans to meet government-imposed budget cuts.
Cabinet Member for Waste and Emergency Planning, Councillor Richard Russell, explained: "We have to make a budget saving of £26,000 and believe the partial closure of these sites is the best way to achieve that while avoiding the need for any permanent closures. Most importantly, this will minimise the impact on the majority of the Rotherham public who use our sites.
"Cutting back on opening hours is not really an option because there would be little point in opening if we reduced the hours further. But we hope that the public will understand that to achieve the required level of savings we need to do something that is the equivalent of closing one centre for four days per week. However, rather than unfairly disadvantaging one area, we believe it should not be the same centre and so have spread the closures."
Waste management company FCC Environment Ltd currently runs the four sites under the authority’s waste management contract. The council is now seeking to agree a variation in the contract to accommodate the changes.
It is not thought that there will be any job losses a result of the partial closures.
Further details on the trial closures will be announced in ‘due course’.
Budget cuts affecting waste management
Rotherham’s decision to partially close its HWRCs makes it the latest local authority to make changes to its waste management offering in the face of government-imposed budget cuts.
Earlier this month, Aylesbury Vale District Council announced that it is to remove more than 80 council-run recycling banks over the next few months to save around £30,000 a year, while Dorset Waste Partnership (DWP) will remove around 100 recycling bring banks by June to save an estimated £115,000 a year.
Read more about the HWRCs in Rotherham.
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