Future of Ludlow’s amenity skip and recycling centre to be considered
A proposal to close the Coder Road amenity skip and recycling centre in Ludlow and consider options for the site’s future use is to be considered in early November 2013, following a detailed review of Shropshire’s recycling centres which sought to identify ways to increase the county’s recycling rate and save money.
The proposal will be considered by Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member responsible for waste management, at his Cabinet member decision-making session due to be held in the week commencing 4 November 2013.
Shropshire Council – with its waste contractor Veolia – operates five modern household recycling centres (HRCs) across the county, plus the Coder Road amenity skip site. South Shropshire is the only former Shropshire district to currently have two recycling centres (including the HRC at Craven Arms Business Park).
Shropshire Council has been reviewing the operation of these recycling centres to identify ways to increase recycling, reduce the amount of the waste that goes to landfill, and make financial savings.
The review found that the recycling rate at Coder Road in the year 2012/13 was less than 30% – compared to an average of 60% at the county’s five household recycling centres.
It found that the Coder Road site is visited just 25,000 times per year, compared to a total of 750,000 visits per year for the five HRCs.
And the review found that it would cost Shropshire Council £600,000 to bring the Coder Road site up to the standard of the county’s five HRCs, but this would only see a 0.2% increase in Shropshire’s recycling rate.
Closure of the site would also save Shropshire Council £100,000 a year.
For these reasons the review has recommended that the Coder Road amenity skip site should close and that alternatives for its future use should be considered.
Three possible options have been proposed, and until 21 October 2013 people can have their say about these by completing an online survey.
The three proposed options are:
1. Clear the site and sell the land.
2. Convert the site to an unmanned recycling bring bank site.
3. Clear the site and integrate the land into the redevelopment of the neighbouring anaerobic digestion (AD) site.
Larry Wolfe, Shropshire Council’s head of waste management, said:
“Our review has found that closing the Coder Road amenity skip site would lead to significant financial savings for the council, but would also increase the amount of waste that is recycled by encouraging people to make use of the state-of-the-art recycling centre at Craven Arms where many more materials can be recycled, or through greater use of the bring banks provided across the south Shropshire area.
“Three possible future uses for the site have been put forward and we are keen to hear the views of local people and local councillors before a final decision is made in November.”
Further information
Fourteen types of material can be taken to the Coder Road amenity skip and recycling site for recycling – compared to 30 at each of the other five household recycling centres.
The Coder Road site opens from 12 noon to 8pm, Tuesdays to Fridays, and from 8am to 1pm on Saturdays – compared to 9am to 5pm every day for the five other household recycling centres, including the one at Craven Arms.
Shropshire’s five household recycling centres (HRCs) are located at:
- Bridgnorth (Faraday Drive)
- Craven Arms (Craven Arms Business Park)
- Oswestry (Mile Oak Industrial Estate)
- Shrewsbury (Battlefield Enterprise Park)
- Whitchurch (Waymills Civic Park)
