PROTESTS by more than three-quarters of Surrey residents to plans to close community recycling centres (CRC) in Cranleigh, Dorking, Badshot and Warlingham have triggered a U-turn by Surrey County Council.

But proposals for opening hours to be reduced on “quieter days” and a veto on residents being allowed to throw away a bag of builder’s waste for free, have been condemned as a “huge mistake” and likely to lead to a “large increase in fly-tipping”.

Surrey’s Cabinet member for environment and planning Mike Goodman, announced last Thursday, proposals to close the four CRCs due to be determined by Cabinet on Tuesday, September 26, had been axed.

Members of Waverley Borough Council’s ‘watchdog’ environment overview and scrutiny (O&S) welcomed the news four CRCs would not shut, at their meeting on Monday night. But concerns were raised the crackdown on residents’ free daily allowances of a bag of builder’s waste would result in even more fly-tipping.

At Monday’s O&S meeting, Farnham councillor and vice-chairman Wyatt Ramsdale said he would raise concerns the changes would increase fly-tipping at Surrey’s Local Committee in Waverley meeting in Bramley yesterday (Friday).

“The free daily bag of DIY is going to be charged for,” Mr Ramsdale said. “I share the view it will be dumped in wheelie bins instead and I’ll make that observation to Surrey County Council.

“We will have to monitor if the black wheelie bins go up and if more bags of rubbish are being fly-tipped. We need to be ready to start monitoring so we can say to Surrey ‘you got this wrong’.”

Waverley’s environmental services head Richard Homewood told the meeting: “There’s no question that fly-tipping is going up and we are monitoring it closely. The official figures are for highways and not on private land or parks. There has been an increase in parks but the way figures are collected means this is not officially recorded.”

Farnham borough councillor Stephen Hill called for improvements to be made to the town’s “dismal” CRC, where residents still have to climb steps to dump their rubbish, as opposed to Surrey’s revamped Witley CRC, where the skips are placed below users, so rubbish can be dropped in.

Farnham Town Council resolved at its last meeting both to object to further tip closures and seek investment to relocate the current site, as it was no longer fit for purpose due to town growth. Town councillors were also concerned the extension of charging would lead to further fly-tipping, which would mean the cost was unfairly transferred to individual landowners.

The town council has called for Surrey either to reinvest in Farnham tip or to relocate the site with an Invest to Save approach.

Responding to Mr Goodman’s announcement, Lib Dem environment spokesman councillor Stephen Cooksey, said: “I welcome the news that the Conservatives have backtracked on their unpopular plans to close recycling centres.

“However, I remain concerned that they still plan to significantly reduce the opening hours of all of the sites which makes it harder for residents to do the right thing and dispose of their waste responsibly.

“I also think that the removal of the daily free waste allowance is a huge mistake and could lead to a large increase in fly-tipping. I will continue to campaign for increased opening hours and to scrap the counter productive charges that the Conservatives are intent on implementing.”