Plans to close 12 tips across Hampshire, including one near Romsey, could be detrimental and damaging to residents and the environment, councillors have warned.

County councillors, representing areas from Basingstoke to Hayling Island, urged Hampshire County Council not to close 12 household waste and recycling centres proposed under the plan to fill the current financial gap of £175m forecasted to 2025/26.

The Conservative-led county council said that 12 of the 24 tips, those that offer “the least value for money”, could be shut in phases.

As well as Casbrook, near Romsey, those at risk are: Alresford, Bishop’s Waltham, Fair Oak, Aldershot, Bordon, Hedge End, Marchwood, Petersfield, Somerley, Hartley Wintney and Hayling Island

The closures would save £1.6m, an increase of £400,000 from the original proposal.

Only eight per cent of the 10,533 respondents to a consultation supported the initiative.

The tip network in Hampshire is the largest in England, with 24 sites of different sizes. It costs more than £10 million per year to operate.

In 2022/23, Hampshire residents made 2.1 million bookings to deposit almost 120,000 tonnes of household waste across the network.

At the last committee meeting of the scrutiny phase of the ‘Saving Proposal 2025’ that has been running throughout the month, councillors from the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Labour, as well as independents, spoke against the proposal and reiterated to the council their residents demand to keep the tips open.

The meeting heard how the move would be detrimental and damaging to residents and the environment as drivers faced longer trips to tips.

Local Liberal Democrats are challenging Hampshire County Council’s proposal to close the Casbrook recycling centre, which is closest to Romsey and used by many of its residents. The proposal follows a recent consultation which showed only 8% of the public agreed with the proposed closure.

A Hampshire County Council select committee has rejected the proposal to close the tip following the consultation, and councillors across the political spectrum have urged the Cabinet to think again. Hampshire County Council’s Cabinet will make its final decision at a meeting on Monday, 14 October.

Cllr Sandra Gidley, Romsey, commented, “We know that the Conservative-run County Council has significant financial challenges but the proposed changes will cause problems for people. At a time of financial hardship for many it will cost the public more to dispose and recycle their wate and cause more traffic on our already crowded roads. The public are also fed up of consultations when they take the time and trouble to answer but the majority decision is ignored. At times like this no wonder that people think that local democracy is broken”

Geoff Cooper, the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesperson for Romsey and Southampton North said, “Councils across the country are being forced into tough decisions because when they were in power, Conservative MPs voted to reduce local authority funding.

“However, Hampshire County’s Conservative Cabinet is being incredibly short sighted if they think that closing Household Waste Recycling Centres like Casbrook is the answer. We are all urging Hampshire County Council’s leader Cllr Nick Adams-King, a self-proclaimed anti fly-tipping champion, and his cabinet to think again”.


Nick Adams-King, Leader of Hampshire County Council and Councillor for Romsey Rural, (Chilworth, Nursling & Rownhams, Romsey Extra, the Blackwater Parishes and the Dun Valley Parishes) said;

"We will be meeting as a cabinet on October 14, to decide.
This is one of 13 different proposals that have come forward in an attempt to try and save money, as the next year is going to be particular difficult when it comes to funds. 

A decision should have been made on this issue back in July but due to the general election, it was postponed.

The Household Waste Recycling Centre topic is a complex issue, we have the HWRCs to get rid of the waste but we also have the collection authority and the disposal authority to contend with and consider, too, and therefore we want to look at the entire system costs overall to approach it as a waste partnership. 

Of the 12 sites that have come through in the recommendations, each had hundreds... thousands of comments about them. The job now is to look at the recommendations on October 14 and make decisions in the best way to accommodate them.

I truly have heard what the public have said and also what my colleagues and experts have said and consequently, I will work extremely hard to ensure that what we do meets the needs of everyone involved."