RENEWED calls for a closed recycling centre to be reconsidered have sounded after an area beside it has become a dumping ground.

Cllr Carl Etholen said were Bledlow Ridge Household Recycling Centre re-opened, such criminal acts would be reduced.

The facility was closed in 2019 and in response Cllrs Etholen and Bill Bendyshe-Brown formed a Community Interest Company (CIC) “as a vehicle to drive a planning application forward” to re-open it.

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Bucks Free Press:

PICTURED: The sign outside Bledlow Ridge Household Recycling Centre

Bucks Free Press:

PICTURED: Waste illegally dumped in a wooded area nearby 

The men said they formed the company after ‘more than 4,500 residents opposed the closure’.

The application was due for determination in March 2020 but was deferred due to the pandemic, Cllr Etholen said.

Ever since its closure, however, piles of rubbish that include rolled up carpet in bags, wooden frames, shelving, buckets, paint tins and other building materials have accumulated in an adjacent wooded area.

Cllr Etholen said some people are unwilling to journey to other facilities in Buckinghamshire and the re-opened Bledlow Ridge centre would help.

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Bucks Free Press:

PICTURED: Waste illegally dumped in a wooded area nearby 

Bucks Free Press:

PICTURED: A busted gate next to the centre where waste is thrown

“Fly-tipping is illegal and committed by a small minority of individuals,” he said. “It is a major problem nationwide.

“Naturally as the CIC looking to get the Bledlow Ridge HRC re-opened in response to a large number of residents who were opposed to the closure, this will not deter fly-tipping in the area but will reduce this.

“There are some individuals who are simply not prepared to drive to either High Wycombe or to Aston Clinton so the Bledlow Ridge HRC will be able to accommodate this again, if and when the planning application is granted.”

He encouraged residents who see people dumping waste to report it at FixMyStreet.

A spokesman for Buckinghamshire Council said: “The council operates a zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping. We adopt a robust enforcement response, including court prosecution, or fixed penalties in minor cases.

“We ask everyone who uses a private waste carrier to ensure that they use only an authorised person and to insist on making payment online rather than by cash to help minimise commercial fly-tipping.”

Advice is offered at SCRAP fly-tipping by following the S.C.R.A.P code (Suspect/Check/Refuse/Ask/Paperwork).

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