Dear Editor,

I wish to respond to the ill-informed letter in the Ross Gazette on August 3rd on the subject of the Recycling Centre (the Tip!) from an un-named correspondent who states that “bad planning and poorly focused staff had created a tense and hazardous environment, with an increased risk of personal accident and vehicle damage.’’

This correspondent is of the belief that the site would be safer if traffic was allowed to enter and leave the site whilst the skip lorry (which the correspondent calls ‘the giant green and white dumper truck’) removes full skips and replaces them with empty ones.

I have spoken to the Enforcement Officer at Herefordshire Council, the Finance Director of Severn Waste and a representative of the Health and Safety Executive and every one of them has confirmed that the current procedure of not allowing traffic to enter or leave the site whilst the tricky manoeuvring of skips is taking place is by far the safest procedure.

Your correspondent is of the opinion that the so-called ‘dumper truck’ should not be allowed to enter the site during public hours. If this was the case then the green waste skip, for example, would be full in a couple of hours and visitors to the site would have to be turned away.

Admittedly a few weeks ago green waste was directed to the landfill skip due to the malfunctioning of the compactor in the green waste skip – and this resulted in a letter to the Ross Gazette from someone who was not aware of this problem!

Having shown the letter in the Ross Gazette to senior representatives of Severn Waste, and also to the Enforcement Officer at HCC, (who is firmly of the opinion that this letter has been triggered by a recent altercation at the site involving the un-named author of the letter) the person in question need not worry about ‘not returning to the site’ as she has been banned indefinitely for abusive and irrational behaviour!

If your correspondent considers that I have vilified them unfairly then please let them have my contact details and we can discuss this further.

Incidentally, I have visited ‘The Tip’ twice in recent days – no delay and no queues – it’s all a question of timing! It’s a great asset and should be appreciated – or should we revert to the old site on the opposite side of the road?

Dai Harries

Ross on Wye