Councillor clarifies if Llangollen people can use Plas Madoc tip

* Plas Madoc waste recycling centre.

Llangollen county councillor Karen Edwards has clarified whether Llangollen people are yet able to use the Plas Madoc waste recycling site in neighbouring Wrexham.

Last month llanblogger revealed that Denbighshire County Council had negotiated a deal with neighbouring Wrexham which runs it enabling locals to use the tip rather than having to take a 32-mile round trip to Ruthin or use the pop-up facility being offered for the past few years at the Pavilion car park.

Officials said the new arrangement could start from this month but llanblogger understands a number of people have been turned away when they have tried to leave their waste at Plas Madoc.

This has been due to industrial action by refuse collection staff in Wrexham.

Questions about the situation have been raised on social media which turned into a debate on Facebook yesterday.

This has prompted a response from Cllr Edwards who said: “Having seen recent comments from residents I would like to clarify the latest position regarding the use of Plas Madoc waste recycling facility by Llangollen residents.

“Whilst I’m aware that people have commenced using the facility I can only stress that it is not yet officially open to the Denbighshire County Council residents and people who choose to use the facility do so at the risk of being turned away.

“I reiterate that the reason for the short delay is due to a request from Wrexham County Borough Council.”

The breakthrough in local people being able to use Plas Madoc came after an intensive campaign led by Llangollen’s Phil Jones spearheaded by a petition of over a thousand signatures.

The agreement between Denbighshire and Wrexham will provide:

• Increased number of available booking slots 208 a month initially as opposed to current 128 available for residents of Llangollen (will be subject to constant review dependant on demand) .
• More flexibility providing booking slots every day, not just between 9 and 11am on third and fourth Saturday of each month.
• Plas Madoc HWRC is a managed site ensuring the health and safety of all its users as a controlled environment.
• Plas Madoc HWRC has the capacity to increase recycling rates, through the process of checking and removing recyclable items that have been placed in the residual waste stream.
• Initially residents will be able to take residual and green waste and we are working with Wrexham to provide additional streams once the relevant processes are in place.
• Residents who turn up with chargeable waste will be turned away as the case at Denbighshire’s own sites
• As now residents with bulky items can either take them to one of the DCC HWRC sites listed on our website or use the bulky collection service provided by the council.
• The financial costs for the new service is in line with the exiting budget for the Llangollen pop-up service whilst providing an improved service and ensuring all material is treated and recorded in accordance with legislation.