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Response by the Cabinet Member: Thank you for your question regarding the booking system at Household Recycling Centres. Just to confirm, this measure was agreed in February 2024 as part of the budget setting process. As a result it was incorporated into the new contracts for the operation of the Household Recycling Centres which have now been tendered and awarded with a start date of April 2025. The alternative would have been to either reduce the opening days and hours at the sites or potentially even close one of them, to realise the savings and stay within budget. However, the benefits of a booking system are far from purely financial. We have prepared some Question and Answers on the booking system, which do address the most common queries, and these are available on our website at the following link: Booking system FAQs - Powys County Council To address your first point, booking a slot will be very simple and will be possible at short notice so can be combined with a trip that you are already making. Experience and evidence from other local authorities shows there are usually slots available for people to book at short notice, it’s highly unlikely that every slot will be full every day. Site staff will also use discretion where users arrive reasonably early or late as we understand that factors outside resident’s control can affect whether they arrive precisely at their allotted time. We are aware of negative publicity regarding the introduction of the booking system in Shropshire. This does not, however, reflect the experiences that other authorities have had with these systems. We have had really positive feedback from Conwy Council, who use the same contractor operating four of our sites from April. Below are some figures from customer feedback specifically in relation to the booking system in operation at their sites. - 2021 survey had 104 responses, 80% of which were in favour of the booking system staying in place - 2022 survey had 1170 responses, of which 83% were in favour of the booking system staying in place - The average rating for the booking system is 4.7 out of 5. Of the 8302 residents that took part in this separate survey, 81% gave a rating of 5 (with a scale of 1 being poor to 5 being excellent). Preventing use from non-residents of Powys is just one benefit of the booking system. Providing a resident’s permit would be very expensive and open to fraud. We have been able to develop our booking system internally without the need for any external expertise or additional cost. With a permit system, residents would also need to remember their permit each time they visited a site. The booking system is managed electronically, all residents need to do is arrive at the booked time. In terms of the specific questions that you have asked: • Why do think you need to introduce a booking system? If it’s working well then why change it? The sites have not always worked as well as we would like. The recycling centres are often very busy which does create problems managing the traffic and queues. Many of our facilities are close to main roads or within busy industrial estates and the queues have caused disruption on the highway and also to neighbouring businesses. Controlled and therefore reduced traffic movements will make the sites much safer for the public to use and the Contractor to operate as well as benefitting our neighbouring business and their customers. By having more control over visitor numbers throughout the day, the Contractor will also be able to better manage the waste and recycling that comes into the sites, provide more assistance to the public, and control any non-legitimate use. • Have you studied the issues that neighbouring authorities have encountered and taken measures to mitigate these? Yes, we have had extensive discussions with the many other local authorities who operate a booking system, we have also worked closely with our Contractors, one of which already successfully operates a booking system at the recycling centres they manage in North Wales. • Do you believe more people will recycle if they must make a booking? Yes, using a booking system will allow the sites to be managed more effectively. At the moment the site staff have to manage the traffic, assist the public, monitor the use of the containers as well as keeping on top of housekeeping duties. With a booking system, the number of visits will be controlled, the traffic will be reduced and the site staff will have more time to ensure waste is correctly sorted before being deposited into containers, maximising the recycling from these facilities. • Would you agree to review the system after 6 months and cross reference with reports of fly-tipping to evaluate how effective it is? Our services are constantly reviewed for how well they perform. We will be able to conduct surveys on user satisfaction as has been done by other authorities where booking systems have been introduced. Incidents of flytipping are routinely recorded and monitored. It is important to remember that flytipping is a criminal offence and not something that law abiding residents generally resort to. Flytipping unfortunately takes place already with the current arrangements and we do investigate any incidents, taking enforcement action where possible. • Could you provide the current usage figures for each Centre so they can be cross referenced with data at a later date? Currently we don’t routinely monitor site usage as it would require dedicated resources to do so. The last substantial user surveys were in 2019/20, and at that time the average number of visits per site per day across those surveys was 197. However, the number of users per hour varied considerably within the same day. At Llandrindod for example, there were days where only 10 vehicles used the site between 9 am and 10am, but then 60 vehicles used the site between 11am and 12 noon. This makes it very difficult for staff to consistently manage users, traffic, and safety on site, while also providing sufficient help to users, and ensuring that the correct containers are used to maximise recycling. At busy periods, site users will also have to queue, often for lengthy periods of time. There will be ample slots available for the same number of users to visit each site under the booking system, but spread out over the day and week to enable smoother site usage. There are many advantages to a booking system which, experience at other authorities shows, more than outweigh the negative aspects and I think that once residents are used to the new process, they will appreciate the convenience.
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