Reduced hours at Prudhoe Recycling Centre have environmental cost
Northumberland County Council has decided, without consulting local residents, to reduce the opening hours of Prudhoe Household Waste Recovery Centre from seven days a week to only four (Fri, Sat, Sun and Mon).
Prudhoe Town Councillor Paddy O’Kelly (for West Wylam), with Angie Scott, also a Town Councillor and County Councillor for Prudhoe North, launched a petition against the closure. The petition gained more than 1100 signatures but was still rejected by the Petitions Committee of the Conservative run County Council. Only the Labour Councillors voted in favour of keeping the recycling centre open. The Liberal Democrat abstained and the Conservatives voted against.
In the Climate Emergency we need to recycle more, not less and to be able to dispose of our recyclables locally. Signage has now been posted at Prudhoe Household Waste Recovery Centre suggesting that residents travel to Hexham (30 mile round trip), North Seaton (50 mile round trip), Alnwick (82 mile round trip), Bebside (44 mile round trip) or Berwick (140 mile round trip). How is this sustainable given that the average passenger vehicle emits 138g of Carbon a mile?
Reducing the opening hours at the recycling centre in Prudhoe may well lead to reductions in how much we recycle, an increase in flytipping and heavier traffic in West Wylam on the days when the centre is open.
Paddy has summed this up:
I am extremely disappointed that, despite the already very high incidence of fly-tipping, the poor record of recycling in Northumberland compared to other counties and the strength of local opinion against the closure, the Conservative-run County Council rejected the petition and will be closing the Prudhoe Recycling Centre 3 days per week. Local residents are fearful of increased fly-tipping and concerned that weekend volumes of traffic will lead to significant queueing along Broomhouse Road. New signs erected by the Council suggest that residents can use other centres elsewhere in the county, promoting previously unnecessary road journeys and undermining any credibility this Council has in efforts toward carbon neutrality.
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