CHANGES to Hampshire’s Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) are set to be made after the council consulted on the future of the sites.

Rob Humby, member for environment, pledged to keep all 24 sites open but with reduced opening hours and charges for some services.

He said: “I will be looking closely at the report and recommendations over the coming weeks but I am very pleased to see that it looks like a way has been developed to meet Hampshire residents’ highest priority and keep all of teh county’s 24 HWRCs open, while achieving the savings the county council needs to make for this year.

“Hampshire has a large number of waste and recycling centres compared with other local authorities, and with the continued reductions in Government funding, it’s clear we simply cannot afford to carry on as before and provide this same seven-day-a-week level of service. We asked Hampshire residents what changes they would be willing to see to establish a financially sustainable way to run the HWRCs, and it was clear that their main priority was to retain their local site.

“Through a combination of contract renegotiations, reductions in opening hours and introducing specific charges, the report I will be considering at my decision day on July 22, details how we are going to be able to do this.”

Changes on the cards include reducing opening hours through a later 11am opening time, retaining the 6pm summer and 4pm winter closing times, but closing all the HWRCs for one day in the week, and introducing charges for people from outside of Hampshire.

“I realise there is a concern that any changes to opening hours could increase fly-tipping which is both illegal and damaging to the environment, and I would like to reassure residents that we are working on new and robust tactics to tackle this.

“As the council responsible for the disposal of all waste in Hampshire, this includes fly-tipping collected by our district partners – in fact, the county council pays around two-thirds of the costs of dealing with fly-tipping - and so, as well as environmental concerns, there is a financial imperative to tackle this problem.

“We are also looking to now implement changes which we first consulted on in 2014, to allow the household waste recycling centres to accept, for the first time, waste from small businesses on a chargeable basis and also to make a small charge for residents disposing of ‘DIY’ construction-type waste which is expensive for the county council to dispose of and is not classified as household waste.

“I am hopeful all these components of savings and small charges mean that we can keep Hampshire’s network of 24 sites, which is what residents have told us they want.”

Materials classed as DIY construction waste include soil and rubble – including construction and demolition materials such as stone, rubble, clay, concrete, bricks, blocks, sand, tiles, paving slabs, and ceramic bathroom suites – plasterboard, asbestos, doors and windows, fitted kitchens, fitted wardrobes, tyres, gas canisters, garden sheds and wooden fence panels.

There will be no changes or charges for normal household waste, or recycling or green and garden waste, the county council has confirmed

The county said nearly 12,000 residents responded to a public consultation on how savings could be made in the running of household waste recycling centres.