Winchester & Chandler’s Ford MP, Steve Brine, has written the Leader of Hampshire County Council to ask all remaining restrictions be removed at waste recycling centres across the county.
Many concerned constituents have contacted Mr Brine over the last few months to lodge their concerns over HCC’s decision to keep restrictions, including an online booking system, in place long after national covid guidelines were relaxed.
The MP has learnt that whilst the booking system was originally introduced as a Covid-19 measure, the County Council would be keeping it in place until March 2022 to manage demand.
Steve Brine said; “This is a classic example of mission creep and restrictions, once needed no-one despites, kept in place to benefit the operator not the users who pay for this service.
“Feedback I am getting is the ongoing booking system restricts use of these important facilities and could well encourage fly-tipping in our countryside.
One constituent told Mr Brine; “I am a pensioner, in my late seventies, with modest means, and my garden is bordered by large hedges which require attention. As you can imagine, this produces significant amounts of vegetation for disposal. My car can only take 5 bags in one go, but I am no longer able to legitimately take any more to a taxpayer funded site, until the following week. No wonder some people resort to fly-tipping.”
The MP added that he also planned to raise the issue with Hampshire leaders at a meeting with county Members of Parliament in the coming days.
