Birstall tip to close for good as Kirklees Council cuts costs
The controversial decision was made by councillors on Tuesday
Despite masses of backlash from residents and councillors alike, the final decision has been made to close Birstall’s tip for good.
Tensions ran high on Tuesday, October 8 in the council chamber as Cabinet approved controversial plans to close the Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) in Nab Lane, Birstall. Kirklees Council also agreed at the same meeting to slash opening hours at two other sites.
Now, Birstall’s HWRC will be shutting for good from late Autumn/Winter. Meanwhile the HWRC at Bent Ley Road in Meltham will open from Wednesday to Sunday, and will no longer be open on Mondays and Tueadays. Upper Cumberworth’s HWRC at Bromley Farm will operate from Friday to Tuesday, and will no longer operate on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
All three Birstall and Birkenshaw ward councillors were in attendance at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, making their strong opposition to the plans known. Among them was Josh Sheard (Con), who said: “Nab Lane is a facility that has served our community diligently and has become an integral part of how we manage waste responsibly. It’s astonishing that we even need to debate this issue when thousands of residents signed a petition to keep this centre open.”
Councillor Sheard spoke of the negative environmental impacts the closure would have on residents, which he and others felt contradicted the council’s green agenda, from the increased distances people would have to travel to their nearest alternative site at Dewsbury’s Weaving Lane. He also spoke of his concerns that the decision would lead to an increase in fly-tipping.
He accused the Labour administration of “refusing to listen” and not ‘respecting’ the views of the people it “claims to serve”. He said: “Ignoring the concerns of thousands of people undermines our credibility as elected officials and alienates those very people that we represent.
“Time and time again Birstall and Birkenshaw and the wider North Kirklees community has found itself in this exact position – where this Cabinet is proposing to threaten our community facilities with closure and where basic needs like waste and recycling facilities are being torn away from us. All yet, while Huddersfield is being pumped with millions of pounds.
“I think the Cabinet needs to sit back, look at themselves and ask themselves – what are their true commitments to our community?”
Other councillors weighed in on the issue, with Cllr Jo Lawson (KCI, Crosland Moor and Netherton) questioning the council’s “zero-tolerance approach” to fly-tipping. The problem had been referenced by Cabinet Member for Environment and Highways, Cllr Munir Ahmed, earlier in the meeting, and Cllr Lawson voiced fears the issue would only become more prominent should the closure go ahead.
Leader of the Lib Dem group, Cllr John Lawson (Cleckheaton), echoed some of the earlier comments made and queried whether it was time to consider a regional approach to waste and recycling. He said he felt the closure would make current Nab Lane tip users the target of organised fly-tippers who he said were “rife” across the borough.
A member of the public, Richard Hodgson, who has been a Kirklees resident for 70 years and currently resides in the Birstall and Birkenshaw area, also criticised the decision. Mr Hodgson condemned the lack of consultation, among other elements of the plan. He said: “As a resident, a regular user, a Council Tax payer, I don’t think we have been dealt with very democratically here, and if this decision goes forward, I think it’s totally wrong.”
Addressing the concerns, Cabinet Member for Environment and Highways, Cllr Munir Ahmed, reiterated the importance of not only making a saving of around £200k but of the health and safety of the public, which he said was one of the reasons the Nab Lane site is “not fit” going forward. Speaking on the matter of fly-tipping, he urged councillors to “work with us” in reporting the issue to the council.
Following the meeting, he said: “Now proposals are approved, peak opening times will be maintained across the remaining HWRC sites whilst meeting financial targets for the service.
“We have to make difficult decisions in the current financial climate but this proposal still leaves Birstall and Birkenshaw residents with the industry-recommended journey time to their nearest HWRC. The closure of Nab Lane will also put Kirklees at a level of service comparable to that of Leeds, Bradford, and Wakefield when comparing density of provision.
“With the tip at Nab Lane needing major modernisation and investment over the coming years, this is one of many cost-saving measures being implemented across the council, as set out in the annual budget earlier this year.”
The plans for the borough’s HWRCs had continuously been met with masses of objection from members of the public and elected representatives since being announced in August. Petitions were launched and the decision successfully ‘called in’ for further scrutiny amid criticisms of a lack of consultation and concern that only a limited number of options had been considered.
However, despite these attempts to halt the unpopular decision, the original plan was ultimately given the go-ahead.