Plan Announced To Close Market Harborough Tip

Plans have been announced to close Market Harborough tip.

The facility on Riverside Industrial Estate is one of three Recycling and Household Waste Sites across Leicestershire being earmarked for closure by the cash-strapped county council.

Market Harborough’s Recycling and Household Waste Site could close

If the closure goes ahead, residents would have to travel to Kibworth to dispose of rubbish at the recently revamped waste site off the A6.

The plan is part of proposals to save over £500,000 from the council’s budget for household waste and recycling sites and also includes reducing opening hours of all sites during the summer months.

The authority has repeatedly highlighted its current financial pressures, including the need to save £90m by 2026, and a recent £9m forecast overspend for this year’s finances, due to rising social care costs.

Around 113,000 people visited the Market Harborough site in 2019/2020, but the council says total visits to all its waste sites have dropped by 20% in the past three years, from 1.5 million to 1.2 million annually.

Cllr Blake Pain is cabinet member for the environment and green agenda and told HFM the decision to propose site closures has not been an easy one:

The household waste and recycling sites in Shepshed and Somerby are also earmarked for closure.

A public consultation into the proposed closures and reduction in opening hours is set to launch next month.