A HOUSEHOLD recycling and waste centre’s weekly opening is being permanently extended by an extra day after a successful trial over the spring and summer.

The Station Approach centre in Ross-on-Wye is one of the busiest in Here- fordshire, and a growing population has meant an increased demand for the service.

County council chiefs conducted a six-month pilot to establish whether an extra day’s opening on a Monday would meet increasing demand for the service and ease traffic congestion at busy times.

Officers also carried out visitor surveys to measure the success of the trial.

Only 12.9 per cent of those who responded to the July 2019 public consultation exercise thought opening days should stay at three days a week, implying that there was majority support for an extension in days.

The council found that the additional opening over the trial period reduced queuing vehicles out on to the busy Station Approach road.

Despite costing an extra £50,000 a year to open for the extra day, Ross-on-Wye Household Recycling Centre will now operate from 8am to 6pm Monday, Thursday and Saturday and 10am to 5pm on Sundays and bank holidays except Good Friday, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

Meanwhile, the Troy recycling tip on the outskirts of Monmouth, which has come in for criticism from some residents for repeated day-time closures, has launched a dedicated Facebook page alerting people on an hourly basis about its opening status.

County bosses launched a permit-only scheme solely for Monmouthshire residents to use the tip earlier this year, sparking anger from some Herefordshire and Gloucestershire residents living as little as a mile and a half away from the border town facility.

Some townspeople also took to social media to say the problem wasn’t people outside Monmouthshire using the tip, it was simply too small for purpose and needed expanding or relocating.

A look at the Facebook page – called Mitchel Troy HWRC despite being on the edge of Monmouth and two miles from the village – shows that the tip is regularly closed three times a day for at least 30 minutes.