National Rail Dumps plan for new recycling tip

National Rail has scrapped plans for a new recycling dump in Hillingdon, five months after the site was given planning permission.

Plans for a new recycling site have been blocked after National Rail has announced its intention to use the Old Coal Yard off Tavistock Road, West Drayton, as a site for the transportation of goods.

Earlier in the year, Hillingdon council announced that it planned to work with waste management company Powerday to provide the council’s residents with an accessible recycling site in West Drayton, south of the borough.

The site had been given planning permission in May and was planned to work alongside monthly waste recycle weekends at the site. The new tip was planned to operate throughout the week.

The new rubbish tip would have offered residents a convenient alternative to the Harefield rubbish tip and was due to benefit local businesses by controlling amounts of trade waste material.

Mr Keith Burrows, Cabinet Member for Planning, Transportation and Recycling, said: “This is an incredibly disappointing and frustrating decision by Network Rail, to say nothing of the poor timing.”

“Residents and businesses have long been calling for a waste and recycling site in the south of the borough, and the Tavistock Road site was the ideal solution.”

He added: “After doing everything necessary to get this site up and running as quickly as possible, it will be very disappointing if a new facility doesn’t materialise here, and it will undoubtedly come as quite a blow for residents. However, we remain one of the few local authorities to offer free weekly waste and recycling collections and a free bulky waste collection service, and we will be exploring other options for improving our services even further.”

National Rail has refused to comment on their change of decision in blocking the new recycling site.

Richard Grey, of Winnock Rd, said: “Whether we get a new tip or not in Hillingdon really doesn’t matter to me,” while Mary Jefferson, of Trout Rd, said: “A new rubbish tip around the area would have been very useful, so it is disappointing we’re not getting it anymore.”

The new site was not supported by all of Hillingdon’s councillors. Councillors Janet Duncan, Stuart Mathers and Jan Sweeting said in a statement earlier this year: "The site in question is very close to residential areas and the train station, making it a wholly unsuitable location.”

This comes as a setback to Hillingdon’s recycling strategy as the borough recently received a positive recycling rate of 42%, ranking it as one of London’s top boroughs in terms of recycling.

Despite the setback, Hillingdon remains one of the last local authorities in the UK that offers free weekly kerbside waste and recycling collections and has recently implemented plans to manufacture the council’s waste plastic into useful items such as clothes, fence posts and phone cases.

Councillor Ray Puddifoot, Leader of Hillingdon Council, said: “Our successful recycling strategy focuses on what is best for Hillingdon residents, balancing value for money, efficiency and environmental need.”

This follows on from the council’s recent decision to tackle environmental crime by raising on-the-spot fines for littering, graffiti and fly-posting from £80 to £100.

For more information on recycling in Hillingdon, please visit: www.hillingdon.gov.uk/rubbishandrecycling.