Village residents who need to visit Ruddington’s nearest household waste and recycling centre will no longer have to book beforehand to do so as of next month.
Now that wider COVID-19 restrictions having been eased, Nottinghamshire County Council has announced the advance booking system at its West Bridgford facility on Rugby Road will be removed from Monday November 1st.
It was way back in September 2020 that the Council introduced a “trial” system whereby people needed to secure a slot to visit the site. This requirement has stayed in place for over a year – long after most other Council services returned to ‘near normal’ following the Coronavirus pandemic. This has caused some frustration among both householders and tradespeople.
Councillor Neil Clarke MBE, Chairman of Transport and Environment Committee says: “I would like to thank residents for their patience whilst the booking system has been in place. The online booking system for West Bridgford was introduced as a temporary measure to ensure the safety of residents and staff onsite during the pandemic. The system allowed us to manage the number of people on site at any one time and the queues of traffic that generated on the highway.”
He adds: “The government eased restrictions back in July, but now we’re entering a quieter time of year where visitors at recycling centres are a lot lower than the Summer we’re in a position where we feel we can remove the online booking system. I would encourage residents to continue to use the site responsibly; visit during quieter times if possible – weekends tend to be busiest – and not to queue on the highway and block access to adjoining roads for other road users and pedestrians.”
However, Ruddington resident Barbara Breakwell comments: “I’m not so sure it is a good move? At least with a booking system you know how long you are going to be at the Centre e.g. not queuing and making life a misery for yourself, other road users in that area, including public transport and of course the residents around there.” Margaret Burrell adds: “Also probably not a good idea given the increasing COVID rate. What’s the point of cancelling a system that you might then have to reintroduce?” Villager Craig Baum responds: “Last time I went down, a couple of weeks’ ago, I booked but no one was checking at the entrance.”
Beware, too, that the Rugby Road Recycling Centre will be switching to winter opening hours on November 1st – from 8am to 4pm daily – and closed Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. Also, remember you still need to be registered to use any of Nottinghamshire County Council’s recycling centres. You can register and/or update your vehicle details online >>HERE<<.
As previously reported, juice cartons and Tetra Paks can also be recycled there for a trial period.
For those other items, which can’t go into Rushcliffe Borough Council’s grey, blue or green bins, Ruddingtonians also have the option of recycling our glass bottles, jars, clothing and shoes in the Church Street Car Park – and our soft plastics, such as crisp packets, in a new bin just inside the Ruddington Co-op entrance.
