Usk residents are up in arms following the news that their waste and recycling centre is ear-marked for closure on 31st March.

On Friday (20th December) Monmouthshire County Council (MCC)’s cabinet voted to close the site, identified as the most inefficient in the county in order to achieve national recycling targets and minimise budget increases.A report by MCC officer Carl Touhig identified risks associated with Usk’s Household Waste and Recycling Centre (HWRC) and said it does not meet "current best practice guidelines due to the steps and gantries that are used at the site". Usk residents have hit back however saying that its low recycling rate is partly due to reduced opening times and the abuse of the site by commercial ’trade’ businesses.The report by Mr Touhig said: “The gantries make the site unsuitable for disabled or infirm residents and poor lighting of the gantries leads to complaints and potential slips, trips and falls,” the report adds.“Lighting and electrics on site need investment and recent power surges have knocked out lighting in the St Maryport Carpark several times in November”.The report claims that the loss of 18 car park spaces improved access and egress for the large vehicles but issues with traversing through a busy carpark with a 44 tonne vehicle remains a substantial risk.The report says a reduction from four sites to three, with the closure of the Usk facility, is recommended with investment in the Mitchel Troy facility moving forward. “The closure of the Usk HWRC would also mean additional capacity on the skip exchange vehicles to provide a full clearance of skips on a single closure day which would also benefit the operation at Mitchel Troy”.Tony Kear, chairman of Usk in Bloom said that he recognised the budgetary constraints placed on MCC by the unbalanced WAG funding distribution for Monmouthshire “but MCC’s lack of full consultation with our elected representatives and failure to gather the true facts of what actually happens at this site are at the heart of this matter of reducing recycling rate.”“It’s vital this matter is brought back to the table via Usk Town Council, our AM and MP all of whom are now involved,” he added.He claims the report gives no consideration to those who can’t drive to the alternative sites and says there will be a knock-on effect to the environment and carbon footprint as Usk residents are forced to travel to alternative sites: Usk to Llanfoist is a 20-mile round trip and Mitchel Troy is 11 miles away.The council report says the Usk HWRC has the lowest recycling centre of any across Wales, at 47.92 per cent and with MCC facing a six-figure fine for failing to meet Wales’ recycling rate of 63 per cent.At the present time MCC is only getting between 62 and 63 per cent waste recycled.The closure, the report says, will save the council £40,000 in management fees, while also saving £30,000 which would otherwise need to be spent on upgrading the centre.But Mr Kear says that again, Usk is being treated as a second rate citizen of Monmouthshire. “We are proud of how clean our town is - the Usk litter action group is a great example,” he said, adding there are fears a rise in fly-tipping will follow on from such a decision.