Swindon-based The Hills Group, which runs two of Wiltshire’s ten household recycling centres, has revealed that the potential closure of the facilities has been on the cards for nearly four years.
The firm, of which Hills Waste Solutions is a division, says that it has “been discussing the potential closure of HRCs… since February 2022.”
At a meeting on Wiltshire Council‘s Liberal Democrat-led cabinet on December 9, members took a sudden decision to close the recycling centres at Purton and at Lower Compton, near Calne, when its current contract with Hills Waste Services ends on July 31 next year.
Cabinet members were to be asked to vote on a motion to negotiate an extension to the contract.
But midway through the debate – during a recess from which the press and public were excluded – the motion was changed to close the centres from July 31, with no alternative provision in place for the north of the county.
The decisions have sparked fury among residents and town and parish councils, and opposition councillors. Even the area’s two Liberal Democrat MPs have questioned the wisdom of the decision.
Senior councillors are due to face members of the public at an extraordinary meeting of Royal Wootton Bassett & Cricklade Area Board on Tuesday, January 20.
Meanwhile, Swindon-based The Hills Group has said in a statement that it has been in discussions with Wiltshire Council about the future of the sites since 2022.
“The Hills Group is disappointed with Wiltshire Council’s decision to close the Household Recycling Centres at Purton and Lower Compton, Calne,” said a spokesman.
“In May 2024, we were invited to submit revised financial models for the potential extension of the HRC contract.”
“The increase in costs reflected in the financial models was approximately 75 per cent.
“The current contract is being charged based on a pricing structure submitted in 2014 and subject to an annual increase linked to the Consumer Price Index.
“Over the last 11 years, actual costs have increased significantly more than CPI, and Hills has absorbed these costs over the term of the contract.
“Recent submissions considered these additional costs along with the cost of essential reinvestment in the sites, which would allow us to continue to provide an essential service to the residents of Calne and Purton, maintaining the high standards our staff have achieved consistently.”
Wiltshire Council has refused to be drawn on the cost of renewing the contract, but had called the sum “unjustifiable”, and it also disputes the firm’s figures.
“The figure being quoted is not accurate; the uplift in price was in the region of 120 per cent,” said a spokesperson.