The first of April will see the first major change to Buckinghamshire’s household recycling centres for a generation.

The County Council’s Cabinet made the decision in January to bring in the following changes to safeguard the future of the service against a backdrop of continually reduced funding and the need to protect other critical council services:

• The sites at Aylesbury (Rabans Lane), Burnham and Chesham will close two days a week on Wednesdays and Thursdays (generally the less-busy days).
• The site at Bledlow will close at the end of March, with the nearest alternative sites at Aston Clinton or High Heavens in Wycombe.
• All sites will introduce charges for non-household waste items such as bags of rubble, kitchen units, fence panels etc. This brings us into line with many other authorities who charge for items that legally don’t have to be taken for free. Domestic and green waste won’t be charged for.

Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment Bill Chapple OBE commented: “I deeply regret having to make these changes, but there really was no alternative if I was going to make the £1.2m savings required of me. Our household recycling centres consistently receive some of the highest customer satisfaction ratings of all Council services, so we were determined to keep the changes to an absolute minimum while still achieving the necessary savings.

“Since the Cabinet decisions were made, we have been busy preparing to implement the changes in time for 1 April. This is a service that most people use at some time, and I want to ensure as little disruption as possible. Even so, I know that some of the changes will take a while to get used to, and we really value your support and understanding during the transition period.

“I’m committed to ensuring that the overall service continues to meet the evolving needs of Buckinghamshire’s population, and that we can continue to improve on the impressive recycling rates we already achieve.”

Details can be found online at www.buckscc.gov.uk/HRC