Ludlow skip and recycling centre to close

The outcome of the review and the consultation was considered by Councillor Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member responsible for waste management at his portfolio holder decision-making session yesterday.

Councillor Charmley agreed with the officer recommendation to close the site, which will now close to the public in late February 2014.

Closure of the amenity skip site was recommended due to the low recycling rate at the site, the prohibitive cost of upgrading the site (£600,000), and the potential opportunity to use the land occupied by the amenity skip site into a wider development for the local community.

The move will also save Shropshire Council around £100,000, and encourage greater use of nearby modern household recycling centres, providing a wider range of recycling opportunities for local residents and improving the council’s recycling performance.

Councillor Charmley, said:

“A thorough review of the Coder Road amenity skip and recycling site has been carried out by council officers and a number of options for the future of the site have been considered. However, it’s clear from this review that closure of the site is the most appropriate option, and for a number of reasons.

“It would allow the council to make financial savings, will help to boost our recycling rate by encouraging people to use the many other, better, recycling services and facilities provided in the south Shropshire area, and offers the potential opportunity to use the land as part of a wider development for the local community

“I thank everyone who took part in the two rounds of consultation into possible future uses of the site, and all comments made were read and considered.

“I acknowledge that the Coder Road site is popular with many local people. However the majority of household waste taken to Coder Road is ‘black bag’ waste that ends up in landfill rather than going to be recycled. By encouraging people to use the household recycling centre at Craven Arms – at which many more items can be recycled – as well as the wide range of recycling banks that can be found across the district – we can boost the amount of waste that is recycled and reduce the amount that goes to landfill, which will help the environment and saving council tax payers’ money in landfill tax and disposal costs.

“There is no evidence to suggest that other parts of the county with only one recycling centre experience increased level of flytipping compared to south Shropshire. And it’s important to remember that fly tipping is a criminal offence, and the vast majority of people are law-abiding.

“And with Craven Arms household recycling centre (HRC) just nine miles from Ludlow, residents of the Ludlow area will have a similar travelling distance to their nearest HRC as residents of other similar sized market towns which have no recycling centre, such as Market Drayton, Ellesmere, Shifnal and Highley.”