| | Lancashire County Council's household waste recycling centres |
| | Lancashire County Council, like many councils across the country, is going through financially challenging times. This is as a result of funding not keeping pace with the increasing demand and cost of services being delivered. We need to continue to look at ways of reducing costs to help balance the books for future years. This means that we have to consider changes to some of the services we currently provide, as we do not have the resources to continue to deliver what we have done in the past. These changes were considered by our county councillors and we are now looking to consult on what impact the proposals may have. We really welcome your views. |
| | We are asking the public, staff and partner organisations to give their views. Your views and comments will be included in the report Lancashire County Council's Cabinet will consider when making the final decision on these proposals. |
| | 3 December 2018 - Cabinet agreed to consult on proposals
28 January to 25 March 2019 - consultation with the public and partner organisations
16 May 2019 - report the consultation outcomes to Cabinet
20 May 2019 - consultation with employees
From October 2019 - new opening times proposed to begin |
| | Lancashire County Council's household waste recycling centres currently have different opening hours during the summer (1 April to 30 September) and during the winter (1 October to 31 March). The summer opening hours are 8am to 7pm and the winter opening hours are 8am to 5pm. |
| | Our proposal for opening hours |
| | We are proposing to change the opening hours for all our household waste recycling centres to 9am-5pm for the entire year (2 January to 31 December). |
| | Background to our proposal for opening hours |
| | Our analysis shows that
· during the summer about nine out of ten visits to our household waste recycling centres happen from 9am-5pm
· during the winter 19 out of 20 visits happen between these times
During the summer, staff currently work 11-hour shifts, four days a week. During the winter, they work nine-hour shifts, four days a week. Managing these working arrangements is more costly than managing staff working a traditional set working week. We are proposing that our staff will work eight-hour shifts, five days a week all year round. This would mean that they will spend less hours working when our centres are least used, therefore providing better value for money. |
| | All 15 of Lancashire County Council’s household waste recycling centres are currently open seven days a week (excluding Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day). |
| | Our proposal for opening days |
| | We are proposing to open the following seven household waste recycling centres on five days a week
· Barnoldswick
· Burscough
· Carnforth
· Clitheroe
· Haslingden
· Longridge
· Skelmersdale |
| | All these centres will be open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The two days they close will either be Monday and Tuesday or Wednesday and Thursday. The days the centres close will be based on usage data and the availability of alternative facilities. |
| | Background to our proposal for opening days |
| | We are proposing that centres that handle less than 5,000 tonnes a year open five days a week. The average annual tonnage of household waste delivered to each of our centres is |
| | We are also proposing that the centre in Skelmersdale opens five day a week, because there are two household waste recycling centres in West Lancashire district.
The majority of Lancashire's districts have only one centre. Three districts each have two: West Lancashire (Burscough and Skelmersdale); Ribble Valley (Longridge and Clitheroe); and Lancaster (Lancaster and Carnforth). By staggering the days that each centre is open in both West Lancashire and Ribble Valley, a seven days a week household waste recycling centre service will still be maintained in each of these districts. |
| | Pendle and Rossendale will be the only districts without a seven day service. In Pendle many residents already use the Burnley household waste recycling centre due to the location of Barnoldswick. However, Barnoldswick's opening days would also be staggered with Clitheroe's opening days to provide a second alternative. In Rossendale, if households can't hold onto their waste until their local household waste recycling centre is open, the nearest alternative centres are Burnley or Altham.
Where centres are open seven days a week it increases the overall number of staff required to deliver the service. If staff work five days a week extra staff are required to cover the two additional days. To open our household waste recycling centres five days a week provides the most efficient and cost effective means of delivering the service. |
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