By Peter Mann

According to a report in the Royston Crow, Herts County Council is to ban people from outside Hertfordshire using its tips… which, of course, means us in Hatley.

Its tip in Beverley Close, off York Way, is our closest recycling centre in terms of distance (8.9 miles from the village hall) and time (14 minutes) – the ‘official’ one we should use is in Marston Road (off Cromwell Road) in St Neots, which is 9.8 miles / 19 minutes away.

Our other local tip in Bells Brook, Biggleswade is the same distance as St Neots, but takes slightly longer to get there (21 minutes) – but Central Beds Council has also declared it does not have to accept our rubbish. NB  The site will be closed for maintenance work from Monday, 22nd May – it will reopen on Wednesday, 14th June.

According to the Crow article, more non-residents are thought to be using the Royston recycling centre than residents – and it seems we are responsible for ‘importing waste to the tune of approximately 20 per cent net’.

To check us out, there will be ‘Temporary additional staff who will be asking for proof of address and using a simple postcode council checker.’

The good news is ‘Staff will be trained to be sensitive and to avoid conflict’. One wonders if “I’m terribly sorry…” be part of their vocabulary…

• Go to this page on our website for details of our local waste recycling sites.

_{Post created 23rd March 2023; updated 10th May 2023.}