Petition launched over plans to close Birstall tip as Spen Valley MP calls on Kirklees Council to reconsider the proposal
Kirklees Council’s plans to close Birstall tip are continuing to receive a backlash, with a petition launched in opposition, as well as an objection from the Spen Valley MP.
The money-saving measures will see Birstall’s household waste recycling centre (HWRC), at Nab Lane, close for good this Autumn.
The council said the site needs a £7m investment to be brought up to “modern-day standards”, which it cannot afford.
Two more of Kirklees’ HWRCs at Meltham and Upper Cumberworth will operate with reduced hours, cut from seven days to five.
The plans have already proved highly unpopular, with a petition launched last week in response to Birstall’s tip closure by ward councillor, Coun Josh Sheard (Conservative), who accused the council of “neglecting” the town and the wider area of North Kirklees.
Coun Sheard also feared the closure would exacerbate the area’s existing problems with fly-tipping.
Spen Valley MP Kim Leadbeater has now called on Kirklees Council to look again at the proposed closure of the Birstall site.
In a letter to the council, Ms Leadbeater said the closure would have “a detrimental impact on my constituents and their access to a waste disposal and recycling facility”.
Explaining her reasons, she said: “In order to make the trip to the alternative site at Weaving Lane in Dewsbury, residents in Oakenshaw, Birkenshaw and East Bierley would be facing a 20-mile round trip.
“We already have a significant problem with fly-tipping in Spen Valley and the wider area, and I am worried about the impact of the closure of the Birstall site on this.
“Similarly, I feel strongly that we should be making it easier for residents to recycle, not more difficult, which this closure would undoubtedly do.”
Ms Leadbeater said she and her family had used the tip themselves for more than 40 years and criticised the lack of consultation about the proposal earlier in the year.
She said: “I am also very disappointed by the lack of communication with members of the public and elected members, including myself and my office, about this matter. There does not appear to have been any sort of public consultation, which I feel is totally unacceptable.”
She added: “While I fully understand the extremely challenging financial position Kirklees Council are in due to chronic underfunding from central government, which I have spoken about repeatedly at a local and national level, I am deeply concerned about decisions being taken without sufficient consultation and full consideration of the impact on my constituents – in the short and long term.”
Ms Leadbeater said she was hopeful and optimistic that the new leadership under Coun Carole Pattison would provide a period of stability for the council to the benefit of the people of Spen Valley and across Kirklees.
She added: “I am fully supportive of the new administration and am looking forward to working together. I hope we can improve communication and work collaboratively and closely together in the interests of all our residents and constituents.”
Similar concerns around fly-tipping have been raised in a more recent petition from Holme Valley North’s Coun Donna Bellamy (Conservative), on behalf of the residents of Holme Valley and Colne Valley who are “deeply concerned” by the cutbacks that will impact the HWRC at Meltham’s Bent Ley Road.