Cutting hours of household waste recycling centre could lead to more flytipping

Pendle's recycling centre is to have its hours cut

The Household Waste Recycling Centre in Barnoldswick is to be cut from the current seven day service to just five days a week and opening hours by one hour a day.

This is also expected to result in a number of staff redundancies.

The cuts are due to Lancashire County Council facing significant financial challenges and all service areas have been targeted to carry out cuts in the form of efficiency reviews. Despite the council increasing taxes by 6% last April, with further increases to come

Coun. John Fillis, Labour deputy leader, described the moved as 'false economy' and said it would lead to an increase in fly-tipping.

He said: “We brought the Household Waste Recycling Centres in house to improve the service to local communities. The Conservative administration is now looking to cut the service, which will increase the fly tipping across the county.

“They estimate to save themselves £734,000. This is a false economy, which will just pass the costs on to the borough councils who will have to clear up the mess caused by Lancashire County Council. They are not prepared to tell people how many tonnes of waste will be fly tipped around the county as a result of these closures.

“In the end it is the people of Lancashire who will have to pick up the costs, cuts in service, and the environmental impact which will be something that future generations will pay for in the long term. The Conservative claim that austerity is over has turned out to be a load of rubbish.

“This is another back door policy, which will be forced through the so called Scrutiny Committee. Lancashire’s consultation is a disgrace, there is no open and honest debate with local people who are just left to pay more for less.”