{"id":788424,"date":"2026-10-01T10:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T10:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/788424\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T10:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T10:04:10","slug":"norfolk-recycling-centre-closure-branded-retrograde-step","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/788424\/","title":{"rendered":"Norfolk recycling centre closure branded ‘retrograde’ step"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Reform-led Norfolk County Council last week unveiled \u00a332m of savings as it looks to balance the books<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n It includes saving \u00a360,000 a year by closing Docking Recycling Centre and \u00a3340,000 through job losses in the council’s communications department.\n<\/p>\n

\n Norfolk County Council’s County Hall headquarters (Image: Mike Page)\n<\/p>\n

\n Other plans include saving \u00a3475,000 by reducing highways maintenance activities by 5pc, spending \u00a3300,000 less on highways verge cutting, and fewer grit and road treatment runs to save \u00a3225,000.\n<\/p>\n

\n Less money would be spent cutting grass verges (Image: Newsquest)\n<\/p>\n

\n Further proposals would see \u00a3100,000 less spent on libraries, while \u00a3200,000 would be saved by reducing the number of hazardous waste events put on at tips.\n<\/p>\n

\n Opposition parties at Norfolk County Council have hit out at the plans, with the move to shut Docking Recycling Centre –<\/a> which Reform has said it will seek public views on before a final decision – branded a “retrograde” move.\n<\/p>\n

\n Liberal Democrat group leader Brian Watkins (Image: Dan Grimmer)\n<\/p>\n

\n Brian Watkins, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrat group, said: “We believe many of the proposals to be short-sighted and potentially damaging to local communities.\n<\/p>\n

\n “The move to close Docking Recycling Centre is a retrograde step, and we hope that Reform will listen to the voices of local people before a final decision is made.\n<\/p>\n

\n “The Lib Dems are also disappointed that Reform plan to reduce hazardous waste collections back to just one per year.”\n<\/p>\n

\n He said the job cuts could end up costing the council more than it would save, once redundancy costs are factored in.\n<\/p>\n

\n Green group leader Maxine Webb (Image: Maxine Webb)\n<\/p>\n

\n Maxine Webb, leader of the Green group, said she was concerned with the scale of cuts and savings proposed in adult social care, where \u00a321.5m of savings are needed.\n<\/p>\n

\n Reform leaders have said many of those savings relate to saving money on social care by investing in prevention to stop people needing costly care.\n<\/p>\n

\n But Ms Webb said selling off currently council-run care homes<\/a> to a private healthcare company could trigger even higher long-term costs.\n<\/p>\n

\n She said she was “struggling” with the staff cuts and was worried about plans to charge more for post-16 transport.\n<\/p>\n

\n “That doesn’t bode well at a time when we’re trying to reduce our NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) figures and during a prolonged cost of living crisis for families,” she added.\n<\/p>\n

\n Conservative group leader Kay Mason Billig (Image: Newsquest)\n<\/p>\n

\n Conservative group leader Kay Mason Billig, former leader of the council, agreed.\n<\/p>\n

\n She said: “Reform have been loudly talking about reducing the number of young people who are NEET, not in education, employment or training, yet now propose increasing the contribution families make towards post-16 transport.\n<\/p>\n

\n “How exactly do you encourage a young person into college, sixth form or an apprenticeship if you make it more expensive for them to get there?”\n<\/p>\n

\n She also questioned the plan to shut Docking Recycling Centre and the mooted spending reduction on highways maintenance, gritting and verge-cutting.\n<\/p>\n

\n Mrs Mason Billig said: “Reform have spent months telling Norfolk that highways are one of their great priorities.\n<\/p>\n

\n “Now they propose cutting highway maintenance by \u00a3475,000, reducing gritting routes, grass control and weed treatment.\n<\/p>\n

\n “It’s ironic that the only things in the highways budget not being cut will be the weeds and the grass.”\n<\/p>\n

\n Justine Thomas, Reform cabinet member with budget responsibility (Image: Norfolk County Council)\n<\/p>\n

\n Justine Thomas, Reform’s cabinet member with budget responsibility, previously said that the authority needed to look “carefully” at how it using its money as demand for services grows.\n<\/p>\n

\n She said: “Our financial position remains challenging. These initial proposals would help us address the budget gap, but there is more work to do to bring forward a balanced budget.”\n<\/p>\n

\n The Reform-led cabinet will discuss the proposals when it meets on October 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reform-led Norfolk County Council last week unveiled \u00a332m of savings as it looks to balance the books. It…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":788425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-788424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=788424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}