Councillors Slam Plans to Cut Recycling Hours

Bracknell Forest Council is looking at cutting opening hours at its Longshot Lane household recycling centre as part of plans to help close an estimated £10.1m budget gap for 2026/27.

Councillors have slammed the idea, warning it could make fly-tipping worse and leave the council paying more to clear up mess.

At a scrutiny meeting councillor Gerry Webber said: "I note [Bracknell Forest Council is] looking into reducing the opening hours of the household recycling [centre]. I don't know what the outcome of that is and what hours you're looking at reducing them but I'm concerned by how much fly-tipping we get in our ward.

"I'm also concerned by the extra cost [to the council] of picking up all the waste [of potential fly-tipping incidents]."

The council says there are around 25 fly-tipping incidents reported a week in the Bracknell area.

Fellow councillor Tony Virgo described the proposal as "nonsense" and warned restrictions would lead to more problems: "We should be making it easier for people to go to the tip and recycle, not harder. If you make it difficult and restricted, it's going to lead to other problems.

"Fly-tipping is terrible but it happens and people will do it if they feel it is too expensive or too difficult to use the facilities at the tip.

"The council will end up having to clean things up one way or the other. Shortcomings never pay, in my view."

The council says the £10.1m gap is driven by higher demand for services such as special educational needs and social care, rising costs and changes to government funding. It has already cut some services, reduced staff costs and renegotiated contracts.

Waste management makes up about 7p of every £1 of council tax. The Longshot Lane centre is currently open 8am-8pm April to September and 8am-6pm October to March. Vehicle users must book a slot and some types of waste now incur charges.

The Public Protection Partnership recorded 126 fly-tipping and waste duty-of-care incidents referred for enforcement in 2023/24.

Bracknell Forest Council has been contacted for comment.

Katie French, Local Democracy Reporter