By Jamie Waller, Local Democracy Reporter
A petition calling on Nottinghamshire County Council to keep West Bridgford’s recycling centre open has been backed by more than 2,400 people.
The county council is looking at how inadequate tips could be reorganised into a network of larger ‘supersites’, which it says would offer better service.
No new sites or closures have been confirmed yet, and the Conservative-led council says none would shut until there are better alternatives in place.
West Bridgford’s tip on Rugby Road has been highlighted as one of the worst in terms of meeting capacity and causing traffic problems.
However, many West Bridgford residents say they would rather have improvements and better management at their site.
Ben Gray, a Green Party campaigner who set up the online petition, says its success shows people want to keep the site.
“This is a really well-used local centre. It provides a great local amenity and everyone’s keen to keep it open,” he said.
“There’s been an amazing response – people practically requested the petition. I put it out last Saturday and by Sunday it had more than 1,000 signatures. Another week later, we’re at 2500.
“A booking system would help. On the weekends and Bank Holidays, this road does get clogged up.
“But during lockdown, we had a booking system which eliminated traffic problems and spread the load on the centre throughout the week.
“We could do more to improve how people can walk or cycle onto site with waste. But if the site’s moved further away, that option’s totally gone. This one’s really important because of the location.”
Councillor Neil Clarke (Con), the cabinet member for environment and transport, is currently looking at how the system could be improved.
“We’re not going to close any sites unless and until a viable alternative is available. Our main aim is to ensure that the service is improved,” he said.
“We will keep the West Bridgford site open as long as necessary. The problem is the site is so constrained, it’s difficult to make efficient use of it.
“It’s the queuing and congestion – we can’t solve that problem because there’s only one lane.
“Somebody might prefer to spend another five minutes driving to a new site rather than spending 30 minutes sitting in the queue at the current site.”
He says the resistance to the proposals is “a misunderstanding that’s been fired up by opposition groups wanting to grab the headlines.”
The council is currently reviewing the options, and a report is due in autumn with further details.
The council currently runs a total of 12 sites around the county. The recommendations make no mention of how many could close, and how many ‘supersites’ could replace them.
A similar petition against potential closures in the Ashfield district attracted around 6,000 signatures.
It’s claimed the changes could save up to £1.7m per year while still leaving nearly all people within a 20-minute drive of a tip.
