April start for work on recycling centre

People from villages including Matlock, Wirksworth, Bakewell and Baslow will be able to take most types of waste, including furniture, electrical appliances, tyres, garden waste, glass, oil and paper to the new facility at Harrison Way in Northwood when it opens this summer.

Derbyshire County Council's cabinet member for recycling and technology, Coun John Allsop, said: "This is fantastic news for people in the Matlock area.

"The new centre will be a real asset. We will accept most types of household waste so that local people can recycle, reuse or compost what they no longer need."

The recycling centre will be open seven days a week from 8.30am until 6pm, except on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day.

A spokesman for the county council added: "It is expected that 5,000 tonnes of waste annually will be taken to the new centre.

"Of this, it is expected that more than 60 per cent will be recycled rather than being sent to landfill."

Other types of waste that can be taken to the centre will include textiles, rubble and batteries.

Prior to the planning application for the site being granted approval in September last year, 22 letters of objection and six letters in support of the scheme had been submitted to Derbyshire County Council.

Most of those objections were on the ground of the possibility of increased traffic in what is currently a rural area, while other opponents said a waste centre of this type could impact on the Peak District landscape.

The Derwent Valley Cycle Group also issued an objection, saying that the access from Harrison Way could conflict with the route of the proposed Derwent Valley Greenway.

Supporters, meanwhile, said that local recycling services needed to be improved.