At the Town Council meeting on Monday, October 8th, Joyce Thomas MBE raised a complaint regarding the Ross-on-Wye Household Recycling Centre, owned by Severn Waste who are in partnership with Herefordshire Council.

Joyce said: “During my term of office as a councillor in the 80s, one of the things I am particularly proud of is providing a much needed waste disposal recycling facility in Station Street.

“I was promised that if the need arose, increased hours would be considered.”

Joyce commented on how the Recycling Centre is not open enough to meet the demand for it.

Councillor Daniel Lister corroborated this, saying: “When it is open, there are long queues leading up to it, and it often causes a lot of traffic.

“Being on social media a lot, I often see people complaining about this.”

Although it is not a decision that the Town Council members can make, Joyce appealed to the County Councillors at the meeting.

The waste facility in Ross is currently open three days a week, from 8.00am to 6.00pm. Joyce said: “The population of Ross-on-Wye is 10,800, and Leominster’s population is 11,700. Leominster’s waste facility is open seven days a week. Ross certainly should have an increase in hours.

“In Ross, 76% of goods are recycled. Let’s make it 100%.”

Councillor Hyde said: “We have tried several times to achieve this. We were told that if it was open in the middle of the week, time would be wasted by operatives because it would not attract enough people.

“I appreciate Leominster’s situation is different, I don’t know why that is.”

Chair of the Town Council, Councillor Harry Bramer, said: “We have asked for this to be considered before. The issues were to do with how would we find the funding.”See this week’s paper for more stories like this, available in shops and as a Digital Edition now.