Derbyshire council gives go-ahead for consultation into plans to close waste centre
Derbyshire County Council is due to launch a consultation into its controversial plans to close one of its nine household waste recycling centres as part of budget saving plans.
The Reform UK-controlled council is considering the future of the Glossop centre, on Melandra Road, to save £360,000 a year in running costs as part of over £20 million worth of saving plans for the 2026-27 financial year after the authority has argued it is the least used of all its nine tips and the High Peak already boasts two such sites.
Cllr Carol Wood, Cabinet Member for Net Zero and Environment, said: “Making sure this council is as efficient as it can be and that every pound of council tax-payers’ money is accounted for and spent wisely is our top priority.
“No decisions have been made about the future of Glossop Household Waste Recycling Centre and the public consultation will give residents the opportunity to give their views so that we can make a reasoned and balanced judgement when deciding next steps.”
The 12-week consultation, which was approved at a Cabinet meeting on April 9, is expected to start on April 24 and finish on July 19, and it will be further considered at another Cabinet meeting in the autumn ahead of a final decision.
Conservative, Green Party, Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors, as well as one Reform councillor Jason Isherwood, have opposed the plan after questioning the council’s evidence with concerns that if the closure goes ahead residents will have to travel further to the High Peak’s other waste site in Buxton and the proposed closure may lead to waste enforcement problems.
Opposition councillors have also raised concerns the proposed closure may trigger an increase in fly-tipping but Cllr Wood said that fly-tipping is undertaken by commercial traders and she claims studies show restrictions at household waste facilities do not increase fly-tipping by domestic users.
Green Party Group Leader, Cllr Gez Kinsella, argued if the tip closed it will leave residents having to travel an hour to Buxton and he questioned the council’s claims that the site is being used mainly by outsiders because it operates a vehicle Automatic Number Plate Recognition System for registered Derbyshire users and to deter outsiders.
Conservative Cllr Nigel Gourlay said if this site closes many residents will face a round-trip of well over an hour to use the next facility in the district and he fears it will bring greater costs for enforcement, environmental damage and in community frustration.
Liberal Democrat Cllr Tom Snowdon also questioned the council’s findings on the number of residents using the tip from outside Derbyshire.
And Labour Cllr Damien Greenhalgh said the High Peak has two tips because the rural area has particular problems for journey times and he described the closure of Glossop tip as a bad idea.
Cllr Isherwood, who represents Etherow, in the High Peak, said he could not support the proposed closure of the Glossop tip because he does not feel its use has been properly measured and he does not think the plan is justified or fair.
But Cllr Wood claims the Glossop centre collects the lowest volume of waste out of all the council’s nine waste sites and that it is predominantly used by people from outside Derbyshire who do not pay council tax to the authority.
The council has previously predicted a shortfall in its budget for the 2026-27 financial year of £37.8m which has led to the latest proposed savings measures or planned cuts being put forward to set a balanced budget and ensure the provision of essential services.
A recent council report revealed overall saving proposals aim to deliver £22.4m of savings in 2026-27 to support meeting the forecast budget funding shortfall and it says the remaining shortfall will be made up from £2.5m of savings with changes to the way the council operates and with £12.9m to be saved from corporate budgets.
The council claims the Glossop tip collects the lowest volume of waste out of all its nine household waste recycling centres and it is the least used, and that the majority of people who use it are not from the county.
It has estimated that around seven out of ten visitors who use the site live outside of the county and it claims a £500,000 investment would be needed to make sure the site complies with modern requirements and safety regulations to keep it open.
The council also pointed out that most Derbyshire districts and boroughs operate with one waste site and the High Peak currently has two including Glossop and one in Buxton.
Cllr Wood explained the council’s evidence is based on a study using its Northwood site as a ‘control’ baseline example which helped establish figures from which the council has been able to infer that Glossop was predominantly used by non-Derbyshire residents who do not pay council tax to the county.
Derbyshire County Council has stated if proposed savings and efficiencies do not progress then alternative savings will need to be found by other services in order to meet a legal obligation to set a balanced budget.
The council’s budget plan has not ruled out job cuts but it states that it will seek to avoid this where possible through other savings within departments with vacancy controls, redeployment and ‘voluntary release’.
Opposition Conservative, Green Party, Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors as well as Reform Cllr Isherwood were outvoted in February in a bid to withdraw the proposed closure of the tip from saving plans as the authority opted to keep the proposed closure in its overall approved Revenue Budget plans for the 2026-27 financial year.
The council stressed it has earmarked Glossop for closure because it collects the lowest volume of waste and recyclables out of all its sites at only 3,800 tonnes per year out of a total of about 70,000 tonnes across all the sites per year.
It also receives the least amount of visits with 65,700 a year, according to the council, compared to more than a million across all of the council’s nine sites.
The council claims most users visit the site infrequently with around 62per cent of all vehicles recorded over a 12-month period making just a single visit and a further 25per cent visiting just two or three times.
It also claims just 13per cent of visits are from vehicles which have been registered, and because only Derbyshire residents can register to use the site this suggests a significant proportion of the other users could be travelling to the site from outside the county.
A council spokesperson stated: “The findings of the consultation, alongside the updated Equality Impact Assessment and financial appraisal, will
be incorporated into a further report to Cabinet in early autumn, 2026, to support a final decision on the future of Glossop Household Waste Recycling Centre.”
Derbyshire County Council currently runs nine waste recycling centres across the county for Derbyshire residents including Chesterfield, Bolsover, Loscoe, Northwood at Darley Dale, Ilkeston, Glossop, Ashbourne, Bretby and Waterswallows, at Buxton.
The council’s Conservative administration reduced opening hours in 2024 at eight of its nine waste sites, excluding Buxton, and introduced charges for tyre and asbestos disposals as well as a vehicle ANPR system to deter outsiders to save £500,000 as part of efforts to overcome a multi-million pound budget deficit.