Councillors in Newcastle have called for an unpopular household waste recycling centre to be moved, claiming users face queues of up to 45 minutes just to get inside. The Walbottle Road site is struggling with increased demand and has been linked to flytipping issues by local MP Joe Morris in parliament.
Motion to relocate the site
Reform councillor Michael Fitzpatrick, who represents the Throckley, Walbottle and Newburn ward, brought a motion to the city council on Wednesday calling for the site to be relocated. The motion claimed the site had been "outgrown" by new housing developments across the outer west of the city.
It called for the site to be moved to "as near as possible to the densest sources of household waste in the west of the city or another suitable location".
Coun Fitzpatrick said: "There are congestion issues - at busy times it is a 45 minute wait. The waiting times are unacceptable." He added that MP Joe Morris raised the issue during a Westminster debate and is happy to work cross-party, wishing for the site to be relocated.
Support from fellow councillor
Fellow Reform councillor Martin Evison said: "This is a lovely part of the city and one worth protecting. It is unfortunate that the waste site was placed there in 2003. Given the problems it is certainly time to move it somewhere else. We are environmentalists in Reform - we value the environment of our communities. We think the planning department has the ingenuity to relocate the facility to a part of the city which produces the densest amount of waste."
Council amendment and response
However, the Liberal Democrat administration proposed an amendment to the motion, arguing the issues could not be addressed "by simply saying 'move the site elsewhere'." The amendment removed the call to relocate the site and added a plan to review the site as part of the existing waste infrastructure programme.
Cabinet member for local services, Councillor Peter Lovatt, said: "The answer can't simply be move the site elsewhere. That is a complex undertaking. A site must be suitable in planning terms and acceptable to the surrounding community. It is irresponsible to predetermine a solution before the necessary evidence has been gathered. This amendment asks not only to look at Walbottle but how the whole waste estate should operate in the future."
The amendment was passed by 45 votes to 25, with the amended motion being approved. The cabinet is set to receive a report on modernising waste collection as part of efforts to increase recycling and introduce wood waste collections.
