No motorists have been turned away from North Yorkshire’s household waste centres following the introduction of a rule change, councillors have been told amid ongoing fears about fly-tipping.
Concerns were voiced at North Yorkshire Council’s full council meeting this week that the new requirement to register your vehicle to use the county’s waste centres would lead to further illegal dumping.
The registration system requires residents to provide their name, address and vehicle details before visiting one of the county’s 20 sites.
Officials say that in the early stages, staff will focus on supporting visitors and helping them register, rather than turning people away.
The council says the changes will help tackle misuse of the sites, with around one in six visits currently made by people from outside North Yorkshire — costing taxpayers up to £400,000 a year.
But Green Party councillor Andy Brown told the meeting he was worried that increased fly-tipping would cost more than allowing someone from outside North Yorkshire to use the centres.
He said:
“I’m concerned that people from across the border might pack up their cars, go to the place they’ve always gone, get turned away, and then resort inappropriately to fly tipping in anger on the way home.
“I feel we may end up losing more money in clearing up the mess than we save in the scheme.”
In response, Councillor Carl Les, leader of the authority, said 163,000 registrations had been made since the change last month.
“I think this is quite substantial, but this is as expected by the service.
“I have to say it’s a very easy-to-use registration. I did it myself in a very short period of time.”
Cllr Les said the new rules had been widely publicised, adding:
“I don’t think anybody could say that they don’t know that we’re introducing this scheme.
“Nobody has been turned away yet and actually the staff have been very helpful in helping people to register there and then at the at the gate.
“It’s not a new or unique approach. Many, if not most, of our neighbours do it already.”
Cllr Les told Cllr Brown he perhaps had a higher regard for the honesty and integrity of North Yorkshire residents than he did.
He added:
“I think fly-tipping is much more likely to be carried out by people who don’t even attempt to go to the tip.
“However, and whoever does it, we are determined to be more robust in prosecuting fly-tippers.”
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