Local residents may soon have to pre-register details of their residency and motor vehicles before being allowed entry to Sort It recycling centres in South Gloucestershire, such as the one in Station Road, Little Stoke.
The proposal is one of many cost-saving ideas put forward by officials at South Gloucestershire Council, in an attempt to deliver £36m of savings between now and 2020.
If approved by councillors following a period of public consultation that runs until 14th February, the scheme would require residents to provide proof of residency, as well as vehicle make, colour and registration number. On entering one of the sites, a vehicle’s registration number would be checked against the database and, if not registered, the driver would be asked to leave.
In justifying the pre-registration proposal, the consultation document states:
“The council provides Sort It centres so that our residents can dispose of their household waste, paid for through the council tax you pay. Unfortunately, we get a significant number of users from outside South Gloucestershire using the sites who do not contribute to the running costs of the service or pay for the disposal of their waste.”
“We estimate that a 5% reduction in the number of visitors using our sites could reduce our running costs by £75,000 per year.”
Other measures proposed in the consultation document include requiring owners of vans and other types of “business use” vehicles to apply for a permit, charging for the disposal of “non-household” items including plasterboard, hardcore and tyres and reducing opening days and hours.
Council officers believe that a total of up to £400k of savings could be made annually by ”varying the service provided” at its four Sort It centres (the others being in Mangotsfield, Thornbury and Yate).
The Little Stoke Sort It centre is already closed on one day a week (Wednesday), a measure introduced in 2011 when opening hours at the other three centres were extended by around 25%.
Further information about the consultation is available at www.southglos.gov.uk/consultation, by emailing consultation@southglos.gov.uk or by phoning the council on 01454 868000.
This article originally appeared in the January 2015 edition of the Bradley Stoke Journal news magazine, delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to 9,450 homes in Bradley Stoke, Little Stoke and Stoke Lodge. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.
Oh that’s brilliant, so I’m currently not allowed to borrow a van to shift my waste, and now I won’t be allowed to borrow my mates estate car either, not gonna shift much in my MX5 am I!