SURREY County Council appears to have buckled under public pressure and made a last-minute decision to delay closing recycling centres – but dozens of children’s centres will still be culled.

Thousands of people signed various petitions calling on the council to reconsider plans to close four community recycling centres in the county – including the Herald’s own Don’t Dump the Dump petition, presented to the council’s cabinet on Tuesday by chief reporter Daniel Gee.

And just hours before councillors were due to decide on the future of the sites, a last-minute amendment was added to the council papers saying cabinet members had decided to delay the closure of the sites while they “sought alternative options to achieve savings”.

This means the CRCs at Bagshot, Cranleigh, Dorking and Warlingham will remain open for recycling material only until September 30 while other solutions are looked at. If no other option is found, the sites will be closed on October 1.

Cabinet members, including Farnham North member Wyatt Ramsdale, also signed off the previously-reported recommendation to retain Farnham’s Bourne Mill recycling centre.

Thousands more people signed petitions to keep the children’s centres open, but councillors continued with their plans and voted to close 31 sites – including the Elstead & Villages Sure Start centre.

A further nine satellite centres will be open – Potters Gate being one of these – and one mobile unit will be deployed for areas and communities who cannot get to a centre. The service will be centred around outreach work of staff working more closely with families in their homes.

The public gallery was packed out at County Hall in Kingston as cabinet members met to discuss the proposals put forward after the extensive consultations on five service areas.

Speaking about the U-turn over recycling centre closures, Conservative council leader Tim Oliver said delaying the changes would mean they can look at the government’s new waste strategy published before Christmas.