Councillors in Newcastle have called for an unpopular household waste recycling centre to be relocated, claiming motorists face queues of up to 45 minutes just to get inside.
The Walbottle Road household waste recycling centre is struggling to cope with increased demand and has been described as a contributor to fly-tipping problems by local MP Joe Morris in Parliament.
Reform Cllr Michael Fitzpatrick, who represents the Throckley, Walbottle and Newburn ward on Newcastle City Council, brought a motion to the council on Wednesday calling for the site to be relocated. The motion claimed the centre 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”.
Cllr Fitzpatrick said: “There are congestion issues – at busy times it is a 45-minute wait. The waiting times are unacceptable.
“I have been fighting for a while on this. Recently, the MP for Hexham Joe Morris raised the issue during a Westminster debate. The MP is happy to work cross-party in the interest of our communities and also wishes for the site to be relocated.”
Fellow Reform Cllr Martin Evison, who also represents the ward, added: “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.”
However, the Liberal Democrat administration proposed an amendment to the motion, arguing that the problems could not be addressed “by simply saying ‘move the site elsewhere’”.
The amendment removed the call to relocate the centre and instead added a proposal to review the site as part of the council’s existing waste infrastructure programme.
The cabinet is also set to receive a report on modernising waste collection as part of efforts to increase recycling and introduce wood waste collections.
Cabinet member for local services Cllr 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, and the amended motion was subsequently approved.
