Local News

Concerns have been raised by local residents and opposition councillors as the council introduces changes to bulk waste disposal and introduces new opening times at Dunsdale Recycling Centre.

Liberal Democrat councillors have accused that “After only a month in charge of Redcar & Cleveland Council, Labour is already breaking promises”.

The Liberal Democrat councillors have also slammed Labour Council bosses after they decided to increase the charges for “junk jobs” (bulky household waste).

The decision by the Labour Cabinet means that residents will now pay £17 for collections of large items of waste, instead of £16.

Yet Labour’s manifesto for the local elections clearly states that “We will reduce the cost of removing junk to reduce fly-tipping”.

Lib Dem Group Leader, Councillor Josh Mason, said:

“Under Labour our borough had the worst fly-tipping in the Tees Valley in 2013, and the sixth worst in the whole of the North-East. So doing something to reduce the incentive to dump waste was a laudable aim”.

Steve Kay, Lockwood councillor said in a local newspaper “Recently I have been disgusted by incidents of illegal dumping near Moorsholm and Stanghow, but consistently hiking up bulky waste collection charges does not help things”.

This comes after recyclers across the borough have being asked to update their diaries as Dunsdale Household Waste Recycling Centre introduces new opening times. 

Councillor Helen Mcluckie, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, said: “These changes to the opening hours of Dunsdale Houeshold Waste Recycling Centre ensure that the same level of excellent service, which users of the site expect, are maintained”.

On Wednesday the Gazette newspaper ran with the headline “Long queues, as fed up residents hit out at opening times”.  They reported that around 25 cars at a time were waiting in two lines to get into the site, with traffic backing out onto the main road near Guisborough.

One frustrated resident said “I would like to meet the bright spark at the top of the council who decided they could reduce the opening hours and not have queues like this. It’s a rubbish decision.”

Another resident, Margaret Green, said online “more stuff will be dumped on fields and grass verges now! That will cost the council more money to collect it.

The new times are as follows –

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 10.00am to 5.00pm (all year)

Wednesday: Closed

Saturday & Sunday Summer: 8.00am to 7.00pm – 1 April to 30 September

Saturday & Sunday Winter: 8.00am to 5.00pm – 1 October to 31 March.

For more information about Dunsdale Houeshold Waste Recycling Centre visit: www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk/dunsdale