South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) has announced changes to its Sort It recycling and waste disposal centres to help improve their efficiency and to deter non-residents and commercial users from using the sites.
From Thursday 1st October, the opening times for all of the Sort It centres will change to 8.30am to 4.30pm. These times will apply all year round (except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day) and mean that the Little Stoke (Stoke Gifford) site will once more be open on Wednesdays.
Other changes planned for 2016 include a residents’ vehicle registration scheme, where all residents will need to register their vehicle to access the sites, and an electronic van permit scheme for all vans. These measures will help to reduce the number of people from neighbouring council districts and commercial users from visiting the South Gloucestershire sites.
The existing automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system will be updated and used to implement the registration schemes. It will be easy to register online, over the phone or at the One Stop Shops. The council says it will let everyone know when they can start to register later this year.
Chair of SGC’s Communities Committee Cllr Heather Goddard said:
“Changing opening times at the Sort It centres is the first step to making improvements to the sites and reducing the number of non-residents and traders using the facilities. After reviewing the number of visitors to the centres, we found that there were very few people making use of the extended opening hours in the summer. The new opening times reflect the times that most people use the centres and also allows the Little Stoke Sort It Centre to be open seven days a week instead of closing on a Wednesday.”
The Communities Committee agreed to the changes to improve the operation of the sites on 22nd July 2015. The recommended changes followed a public consultation carried out between November 2014 and February 2015.
Photo: Archive image of the Little Stoke Sort It Centre.
More info: Changes to the Sort It centres (SGC)
