A HARD-HITTING protest campaign backed by a petition signed by 1,600 objectors has failed to stop Surrey County Council axing its Saturday morning landfill collection at Wey Hill Fairground car park.

Surrey’s two dustcarts were parked up and ready to receive for the last time on Saturday. But town councillors were busy handing out leaflets to those using the facility to say the fight was now on to reinstate the facility.

Those signing Haslemere Town Council’s petition, which was presented to Surrey’s cabinet member for the environment Mike Goodman, added comments pleading for the “excellent service” to be retained and warning the existing problem with fly-tipping at the car park would get far worse.

Residents will now have to drive to the Witley Recycling Centre to dispose of their landfill rubbish and many protested it was a “false economy” to axe the Wey Hill facility and pointed out Haslemere was the only main settlement in Waverley not to have an official tip.

Haslemere’s waste disposal site was removed when the Tesco supermarket was built. Residents were promised they would be provided with a replacement facility in the form of the weekly dustcarts collection.

Farnham, Godalming and Cranleigh all have their own waste disposal sites but their hours of opening could be reduced in further cost-cutting moves proceed by the county council

The latter calculated removing the dustcarts would save £60,000 as their use had declined over the past three years, and justified closure by claiming the majority of waste deposited was recyclable. The town council objected that removing the facility would place an extra financial burden on taxpayers, who will now pay more in additional fuel costs and vehicle wear and tear.

In the weeks leading up to the removal of the service, town councillors did car counts and recorded at least 450 vehicles every Saturday.

The town council is now proposing the dustcart could be reduced from two to one to save costs. It could also be parked close to Waverley’s recycling bins, so the lorry operators could advise users what can be recycled to cut the amount going to landfill.

Anything which might be useful to charity shops could be put to one side and collected at the end of the shift by the shops for resale. Textiles can now be put aside for recycling through the new joint Surrey County Council and Transition Haslemere project, or taken by the charity shops. Wood could be recycled through a project to chop it up for resale as kindling.

“Haslemere Town Council has set out a plan to reduce costs to Surrey County Council and to the environment by encouraging maximum recycling at the car park,” the leaflet stated. “This would be a win for all concerned.”

In an 11th-hour letter of objection sent to Mr Goodman last week, supported by the petition and the car count information, the town council called for Surrey to provide it with evidence on the fall in useage because in the town council’s experience it was simply “not the case”.

The town council has arranged a special meeting with Surrey County Council, on Thursday, October 8.

When the decision was announced at last week’s town council meeting, it triggered a volley of protests.