Recycling Centre changes approved

To ensure customers have guaranteed access and reduced waiting times, an online booking system will also be in place for all vehicles entering the CRCs - similar to the system currently used for vans and trailers.

The decision was approved by Council Executive today (25 April).

The economic climate over the next few years will continue to be extremely challenging and the council has significant and sustained budget pressures caused by increasing costs and insufficient levels of Scottish Government grant funding. The Scottish Government provides the council with 80% of its budget our grant is expected to be less than required for the council to deliver essential local services. This results in a budget gap. The council is legally required to balance its budget - therefore the council has to reduce spending and change some local services.

A number of budget saving measures were approved in February which will allow the council to balance its budget. One of budget saving measures already approved is to revise opening hours at Community Recycling Centres.

All CRCs in West Lothian will remain open and West Lothian will continue to have a large number of CRCs compared to other local authority areas (per head of population. Current usage data, which highlights that the majority of visits to CRCs currently take place between 10am and 5pm. The changes will ensure that at least two sites are open between these hours each day.

Data highlights that 85% of all visits to West Lothian's CRCs are made at three sites: Oakbank, Whitburn and Blackburn. This has influenced the decision to keep these CRCs open more days than the sites at Linlithgow and Broxburn which are least used and only account for 15% of visits between them.

Saturday and Sunday are the busiest days for the CRCs with mid-week (Wednesday and Thursday) being less popular - and all CRCs will continue to be open at weekends.

Executive councillor for the Environment and Sustainability Tom Conn said:

"By reducing opening hours we are able to ensure that our limited budget is used to keep all five CRCs in West Lothian open, and we do not have to consider other possible options, such as the closure of any sites. West Lothian will continue to have more CRCs than other local councils, especially when you compare us against councils of a similar size and population."

He added:

"West Lothian will continue to have a significant number of CRCs compared to other areas - especially given our size.

"In Falkirk, for example, a similar council to West Lothian in terms of population size, there are two CRCs and this has been the case for some time. Both are also open part time and both have moved to an online booking system.  I believe this highlights that this isn't a decision that West Lothian faces alone. All councils face extremely tough decisions in order that we can balance our budgets. We simply cannot continue to deliver the same level of service with the levels of funding available to us.

"It is not the case that councils want to cut any of our services; we have to work with the budgets we have and unless there is more funding, we are forced to make extremely tough decisions."

An online booking system will also be in place for all vehicles entering the CRCs - similar to the one currently used for vans and trailers.

Given that neighbouring local authorities have booking systems in place, officers are advising that a booking system in West Lothian is now required to avoid unauthorised access from non-West Lothian householders.

Currently, it is estimated that a significant amount of waste being recycled at West Lothian's CRCs comes from residents that live in neighbouring council areas, so the booking system would enable the council to reduce the amount of waste it processes overall, resulting in more financial savings.

Customers will be able to book available slots - at any of the CRCs - online via the council's website or via the Customer Service Centre for those unable to book online. Further details on how West Lothian householders would book slots would be available in the near future and prior to September 2023.

The revised opening hours from September 2023 will be: