People in Bingham say the area is “desperate” for a new recycling center amid allegations that the county council has broken its promise to provide one. A review is still underway at Nottinghamshire recycling centers after it was commissioned a year ago.
The review aims to make sure Nottinghamshire’s recycling services are “future-proof” and as part of this, many of the councilors representing Rushcliffe say the area needs a new landfill. The only recycling center available to those in Rushcliffe is in West Bridgford, and the center in Langar closed in 2015.
There were hopes that the county council’s recycling center review would recommend the construction of a new landfill at Cotgrave, where a preferred site had been identified. But during a meeting on March 15, a senior adviser said the Cotgrave site was now considered “inappropriate”.
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Councilor Neil Clarke, a Nottinghamshire County Council Transport and Environment cabinet member, told the meeting: “The review of recycling centers is underway and indeed we are already having a lot of discussions (about) the establishment of a new center that will hopefully serve all of Rushcliffe.
“Discussions are underway to try to establish what might be the most appropriate place to have a site. The Cotgrave site, when delved into more detail, was shown to be unsuitable and I have now had a number of discussions and work ongoing with officials to establish a new center.
Results of the recycling center review were expected in January and the delay, along with the removal of the Cotgrave plan, has caused anger among some. Independent Alliance councilor Francis Purdue-Horan said: “The news that Nottinghamshire County Council has made no progress on a recycling center near Cotgrave in Rushcliffe is very disappointing.
“This represents another broken promise by the council. Residents in places like Bingham and towns like Car Colston, Scarrington and Scrveton feel desperately let down. Recycling rates, once the pride of Rushcliffe, have dropped and it’s the direct result of a seven year, broken promise”.
Nottinghamshire County Council says the delay is partly due to an understanding of recent government legislation and the impact it will have on recycling services. The Bingham people largely agreed that Rushcliffe needed another recycling center.
Aivars Birznieks, 64, who has lived in Bingham for 30 years, said: “It’s a bit difficult if you want to get to one of the councils. I tend to try West Bridgford or Calverton, but it can be a problem.” and closed the Langar site.”
Michael Moore, 43, said: “I try to go to Newark or West Bridgford but both are very busy. You can be queuing in Newark for a long time and Bingham is a growing city anyway.”
“There’s a lot of construction going on around here, so it’s desperate to find a recycling center. I don’t know if the doctors, schools, or anything else will be able to cope with all the extra demand, but we definitely need another tip.”
Shaun Tuhey, 51, who has lived in Bingham for the past three years, said: “I go for a run and you can see flying tips are a big problem around here. It’s obviously not the way to go, but it’s hard to access to tips.” and that’s why it happens.”
But Dave Bryan, 47, added: “I don’t really do anything where I need to use a council to be honest, but there’s West Bridgford so I don’t think we’d need another around here. They would.” it would be better to expand one of the existing sites if necessary, rather than build a new one and create all the additional infrastructure that would come with that.”
Councilor Neil Clarke said: “We are in the process of finalizing a strategic review of our recycling center network. This will ensure the service is future-proof and takes into account lessons learned from the pandemic, upcoming changes to curbside collection necessary to meet legal obligations under the Environment Act and the Resource and Waste Strategy for England, as well as housing growth.
“The review considerations cover all of Nottinghamshire, not just Rushcliffe. We are unable to make any decisions on specific sites until this review is complete, and this includes the site discussed above for Cotgrave.
“Any proposals that result from the review must align with the national waste and recycling policy, and this means that it is not possible to finalize our recycling center review or complete an update to our recycling center strategy in the original timeframes, given Due to the delays in the implementation of the Environment Law and the Resources and Waste Strategy, we will continue with the review and announce our proposals as soon as possible.”
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