Frustration over Tain refuse centre knock-back amid rising concerns over Easter Ross fly-tipping
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RULES at Ross-shire refuse centres are too inflexible and risk promoting fly-tipping in the area, a frustrated resident believes.
Portmahomack resident Moira Gordon has aired her frustration after turning up at Tain's refuse centre with a van of rubbish to off-load - only to be told she would have to go away, book a slot and bring it back if she wanted to dispose of it.
She said the rules, which are designed to prevent commercial operators from disposing of waste without paying, unfairly penalise those residents whose only form of transport is a van.
And she says its sends out an awful message at a time when fly-tipping incidents have sparked local anger.
She said: "In the papers and the media the population are up in arms about fly tipping and rightly so.But after my experience of Tain Refuse centre I don’t blame them.
"I took household items in in our van a twenty mile round trip to be told we had to book a slot .If we took it in in the car, no problem. So are they discriminating against people whose sole mode of transport is a van?
"The council and the refuse centre should be encouraging people to get rid of waste sensibly. I phoned the council who said they were sympathetic to my plight and understood the frustration, but in other words as useful as a chocolate fireguard.
"They said book a slot, so [were] asking a busy farmer to once again take time off again to take it to a dump.
"Both the dump and the council have to get their act together and be applauding and encourage the public to get rid of waste sensibly."
Ward councillor Fiona Robertson has promised to raise the issue with Highland Council and see if more flexibility can be built into the system.
She said: "I totally understand how frustrating this must be. Ever since Covid we've had whole bunch of regulations that can seem inflexible.
She added that as someone who lives out that way, she would also be "really annoyed" if she travelled in from there only to be told she'd have to book a slot and come back.
"I'm going to highlight it again to Highland Council and say it's not responsive enough and not meeting the needs of people.
"I can totally sympathise and will see what I can do to make regulations [more flexible] and meet their needs."
A spokesman for Highland Council said the online booking system, which was introduced last August, is aimed to help “manage the flow of traffic for all site users” and that “publicity to let the public know about the van and trailer booking system was issued at the time it was introduced”.
They added: “Booking a slot is quick and easy – residents need to enter their name, address, vehicle type, registration number and waste being deposited into the online form at least 48 hours in advance of visiting the site.
Car and domestic 4x4 users do not need to book to visit the site.
They added that there “has been no recorded increase in the amount of fly-tipping in the area since the introduction of the booking system”.
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