\n Critics of the council\u2019s online-only system argue it leaves some residents behind, particularly those without internet access or digital skills.\n<\/p>\n
\n So before councillors have that debate, I decided to try the system myself and see how difficult it really is.\n<\/p>\n
\n The result? Not very. From start to finish, the booking took me two minutes and six seconds.\n<\/p>\n
\n First, I searched for the Hampshire County Council website and looked for the recycling centre booking service.\n<\/p>\n
\n This was probably the most awkward part of the process.\n<\/p>\n
\n I knew I wanted to book a visit to the tip, but I found myself clicking through a section called \u201cwaste prevention and recycling\u201d before eventually reaching the booking page.\n<\/p>\n
\n It\u2019s not impossible to find, but it\u2019s not quite as obvious as I expected either.\n<\/p>\n
\n I then noticed there was also an app available to download. Out of curiosity I took a look at that too.\n<\/p>\n
\n It\u2019s optional, but it felt like a much more direct route to the booking section than navigating through the council website.\n<\/p>\n
\n Once I\u2019d found the booking form, things became much easier.\n<\/p>\n
\n I was asked to enter my name, postcode and email address before moving on to the next stage.\n<\/p>\n
\n And that\u2019s where I stumbled across what I think is the biggest issue with the system.\n<\/p>\n
\n What if you don\u2019t have an email address?\n<\/p>\n
\n Hampshire County Council has previously said residents without an email address can enter noreply@hants.gov.uk and continue with their booking.\n<\/p>\n
\n The problem is that this isn\u2019t explained anywhere during the process.\n<\/p>\n
\n I couldn\u2019t find any mention of it on the booking page, in the council\u2019s app or within the booking form itself.\n<\/p>\n
\n If we hadn\u2019t previously reported on the issue, I would never have known that option existed.\n<\/p>\n
\n For someone who doesn\u2019t have an email address, the journey could easily end there.\n<\/p>\n
\n Thankfully, I do have one, so I carried on.\n<\/p>\n
\n With my details entered, I moved on to the next stage.\n<\/p>\n
\n Next came a few simple questions. What sort of vehicle would I be bringing? A car? A van? A trailer? A bike?\n<\/p>\n
\n What type of waste was I planning to dispose of, and which recycling centre did I want to visit?\n<\/p>\n
\n Expecting appointments to be limited, I clicked through several sites including Hedge End, Eastleigh, Southampton, Fair Oak, Gosport, Romsey and Winchester.\n<\/p>\n
\n To my surprise, every one of them appeared to have space available that same day.\n<\/p>\n
\n Most had appointments available every 30 minutes throughout the day, from 9am until 5.30pm.\n<\/p>\n
\n If I had wanted to visit a recycling centre there and then, I probably could have.\n<\/p>\n
\n With a date and time selected, the booking was complete.\n<\/p>\n
\n A confirmation email landed in my inbox a few minutes later. Job done.\n<\/p>\n
\n Overall, the process was fairly straightforward.\n<\/p>\n
\n There was no need to create an account, remember a password or fill in lots of information.\n<\/p>\n
\n For someone who spends most of the day online, as I do, the few extra clicks needed to find the service were only a minor frustration.\n<\/p>\n
\n But by the time I reached the end, I could also understand why some residents are unhappy about the move to online-only bookings.\n<\/p>\n
\n The booking system itself wasn\u2019t the problem. In my experience, it worked perfectly well.\n<\/p>\n
\n The real question is whether it works just as well for everyone else.\n<\/p>\n
\n I spend most of my day online. Filling out web forms barely requires any thought. But not everyone is in that position.\n<\/p>\n
\n If you\u2019ve never had an email address, rarely use a computer or aren\u2019t confident navigating websites, the experience could look very different.\n<\/p>\n
\n For some people, that might be a minor inconvenience.\n<\/p>\n
\n For others, it might be enough to stop them booking altogether.\n<\/p>\n
\n That is the issue councillors will be debating this week.\n<\/p>\n
\n Liberal Democrat councillors are asking Hampshire County Council to rethink its online-only approach and consider bringing back telephone bookings.\n<\/p>\n
\n The motion will be debated by the full council on October 1.\n<\/p>\n
\n Having tried the system myself, I found it quick, simple and surprisingly easy to use.\n<\/p>\n
\n Whether it is equally accessible for everyone is the question Hampshire\u2019s politicians must now decide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Critics of the council\u2019s online-only system argue it leaves some residents behind, particularly those without internet access or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":790499,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-790498","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\/790498","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=790498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}