Bottesford waste site to reopen next month

After closing last summer, a household waste and recycling site is set to reopen next month.

The Leicestershire County Council-run facility, on Normanton Lane, Bottesford, will be accepting rubbish again every other week on Fridays and Saturdays, starting from Friday, June 10.

The site was closed last year initially for essential maintenance, but then because staffing levels were hit by a national shortage of lorry drivers, as well as the coronavirus pandemic.

Blake Pain, council cabinet member for the environment and green agenda, said: "People in the Bottesford area have been without their nearest waste site for a very long time now, so we’re pleased to be able to return the service to them — albeit on a limited basis.

"We are still asking people to use the site if they only really need to and to check the council’s website to see if it is open before they set off."

Although the Bottesford site is set to reopen there is still continuing pressure on staffing levels so the opening hours at Market Harborough waste site will be affected by the change.

The Market Harborough waste site is the only one in the county currently open seven days a week but will return to its original five days a week opening schedule.

From Thursday, June 9, it will close on Thursdays and Fridays each week to free up staff and drivers to allow Bottesford to reopen.

The Bottesford site is small and cannot accommodate large numbers of visitors’ vehicles at one time.

The council has warned there could be traffic queues if lots of people rush to use it as soon as it reopens.

Bottesford also has limited capacity in the waste types it accepts so people are being asked to check the council’s website to see if they will be able to leave the waste they wish to before they set off to the site, especially in the first few weeks after reopening.

This will help reduce the chance of further closures if the site cannot cope with demand.