Saturday waste service "will come back" says council chief

* The Pavilion car park where the Saturday waste service has been located. 

A former Llangollen county councillor has been given a firm assurance by a top council official that the Saturday morning domestic waste collection service at the Pavilion car park will return following its lockdown withdrawal.

The “pop-up” facility for local residents to dump their waste in council refuse trucks parked there rather than having to journey over to Ruthin was introduced some years ago after the closure of the old waste site off the A539.

But it became one of the first casualties of the withdrawal of county services when the Covid-19 crisis began three months ago.

Since then there have been many complaints from Llangollen residents about the lack of this basic facility, leaving them with the only alternative of a long drive to Ruthin as Wrexham Council has said it will not allow them to use its waste site at Plas Madoc.

Denbighshire has said on a number of occasions that the service cannot be re-introduced because of the coronavirus health risk to its employees. But it has committed to keeping the situation under review.

The fight was taken up by former Llangollen county councillor Stuart Davies who organised a social media poll which showed a majority in favour of a swift return of the service.

He has also fired off a series of emails to council officers calling for the return of the facility.

One of his latest notes prompted a response – forwarded by Mr Davies to llanblogger – from a senior council officer.

Part of this said that bulky waste collection would be the next thing on the list of services that the council would be looking to resume. 

Once the council had been able to do that, it would review the position with the pop-up recycling in the Dee Valley. 

The official assures Mr Davies the council was not looking to keep the facility closed, adding: "We have always intended to bring it back as soon as it is possible to do so, and that is still our intention.”

In a further email to Mr Davies the official says in bold letters: “It will come back.”