Spalding tip booking plan sparks council clash as Conservatives demand local fixes

A proposed booking system for Lincolnshire’s household waste and recycling centres has triggered a political row over whether Spalding should receive a locally tailored solution instead of a county-wide arrangement.

The free system is expected to be introduced around November by the Reform-run Lincolnshire County Council. It is intended to address complaints about long queues, traffic congestion and difficulties accessing some of the county’s 11 sites.

Conservative councillors have rejected what they describe as a blanket approach. They argue that the problems at each site are different and that improvements should be designed around local conditions, including those affecting Spalding.

Why the booking system is being proposed

The plan was discussed during a heated full council meeting on Friday, September 18. Councillors agreed that the tips were not fit for purpose, but disagreed about whether advance bookings were the right response.

The county council said it could consider changes such as extra operating days and longer opening hours in future, if information gathered through the scheme shows that there is a need.

Councillor Danny Brookes, the council’s executive member for environment, said complaints included queuing that prevented local residents and businesses from reaching their properties. He said residents would be able to book online or by phone, and that making a booking should take only a short time.

“We’ve had a lot of complaints about queuing, with local residents and businesses not being able to access their properties.”

He said the county’s waste sites receive 1.2 million visits each year and argued that a booking system was a sensible response to the scale of use.

“When you’ve got 1.2 million visits to the sites every year, a booking system is sensible.”

The council also said it believed Lincolnshire should have six-day coverage rather than five days. Any decision to extend opening arrangements would depend on what the data shows after the new system is introduced.

Conservatives call for a Spalding-specific approach

A Conservative motion seeking to redirect just under £300,000 in unspent money to the tips was defeated. Reform councillors said that sum would make only a limited difference to the wider problems.

Conservative leader Councillor Richard Davies said the county was treating several different issues as though they had one cause. His argument was that the concerns in Lincoln were not the same as those in Spalding, and that requiring bookings could make access harder rather than easier.

“Reform is using a blanket approach to a series of different problems – the issues in Lincoln are very different to those at Spalding.”

He said possible improvements should be considered site by site. The options raised included changing a site’s layout, managing how traffic queues form and introducing different or longer opening hours.

“We need a solution tailored for each location, whether it’s rearranging the layout, adjusting how traffic backs up, or different and longer opening hours.”

That means the debate for Spalding residents is not only about whether they will need to reserve a visit. It is also about whether congestion, access and operating arrangements at the local tip should be assessed separately from problems elsewhere in Lincolnshire.

County-wide background

Lincoln’s facility on Great Northern Terrace was described during the meeting as having the worst congestion. Councillor Neil Murray said the location could hardly be more difficult to reach.

“You couldn’t find a more inaccessible site unless it was on the moon.”

Bourne was reported to have the lowest satisfaction rating because of its traffic problems, with 60 per cent of users saying they were unhappy with the site.

A booking arrangement was previously used during the Covid pandemic before being discontinued in 2021, when the council hoped removing the requirement would make the service more convenient.

The amount of waste handled by the tips has since risen rapidly. The sites dealt with 66,000 tonnes last year, according to the information presented in the council debate.

For now, the county council’s proposed timetable is for the free booking system to begin around November. It has said future changes, including additional days or longer hours, could be considered if evidence from the new arrangement supports them. Conservative councillors, however, continue to press for improvements that reflect the particular circumstances of each site, including Spalding.