Issue details

A van permit policy has been in place since 2006. A number of changes were made to operating policies on sites in 2017 and these have now been reviewed having been in operation for 2 years.

Feedback from staff indicates that landscape gardeners and small scale builders routinely access the site using residential van permits to deposit their commercial waste using small flat-bed trucks, passing the waste off as domestic waste and disposing of it free of charge. These vehicles by nature are not typically owned as domestic vehicles and cause congestion on site.

The proposal to exclude flat-bed vehicles from the Recycling Centres will better manage the illegal disposal of commercial waste a reduce a level of congestion.

The weight was reduced to 3.4 tonne vehicles as part of the policy review in 2016 in a bid to deter use of the site by the standard commercial 3.5 tonne vans. However, this has caused unnecessary confusion for staff and residents alike and the majority of 3.5 tonne vehicles have still been allowed a permit. It is therefore recommended to allow all 3.5 tonne vehicles a permit routinely for clarity.