Rubbish tip ban for West Berkshire residents starts tomorrow
Access to Smallmead site will be limited to permit holders
WEST Berkshire residents have just a few hours left to dispose of their waste at Smallmead tip in Reading before they are barred from using the site.
The move, which takes effect tomorrow (Friday, July 1)) comes after West Berkshire Council decided to cease its £460,000 funding into re3 which runs the site on behalf of Reading, Bracknell and Wokingham councils.
The waste management partnership has since issued residents living in these areas with vinyl permits to gain access to the tip.
The decision to stop paying for its residents to use the site has caused uproar among those in Burghfield, Mortimer, Theale and other eastern parishes who now face a 30-mile round trip into Newbury to dispose of their household waste.
The ban has now prompted West Berkshire into making plans to bar residents from other areas using waste disposal sites within its own boundaries, which, in turn has caused uproar among Hampshire residents, some who live just yards outside the district.
Tonight (Thursday) councillors will discuss proposals to bring in a similar permit system which will stop residents living in Burghclere, Highclere, East Woodhay and other parishes in North Hampshire from using the Newtown Road tip and the Padworth recycling centre.
On hearing of the plans to ban Hampshire residents, Burghclere Parish Council chairman Cliff James said residents would be unwilling to make the 30-mile roundtrip to Basingstoke.
He added: “North Hampshire will be full of fly tipping. All councils are trying to save money but this is a little bit short sighted by both councils in trying to cut that cost as people are just not going to go all the way to Basingstoke.”
A statement from East Woodhay Parish Council said the move was “un-ecological, and a waste of time and resources”.
The council added: “Without easy local recycling facilities then many folks may fly-tip which will cost the councils more in the long run to tidy up.”
Meanwhile, residents in Theale, Burghclere, Mortimer and other eastern parishes who now face a 40-mile round trip to Newbury to dispose of household waste, have set up a petition calling for the council to reverse its decision to not pay the RE3 subsidy payment.
The petition has seen residents blast West Berkshire with one person commenting: “I for one don’t agree with it! There will be a big increase of fly tipping which then means West Berks have to come and clear it any way which again costs money! It’s a joke.”
Another wrote: “After July 1st, I can no longer dispose of waste at RE3 in reading. This facility takes 10 minutes down the motorway, disposing in Newbury will take 30 minutes drive each way and be very carbon emissions unfriendly.”
The plans to introduce a permit system to limit access to West Berkshire's tips will be discussed tonight at a meeting of the West Berkshire Council executive.
