Decision details

Sheffield City Council is currently consulting on changing the opening hours at the five Household Waste and Recycling Centre sites in Sheffield. A decision will be taken following this consultation on whether to change the opening and closing hours.

That the Cabinet Member for Environment, Streetscene and Climate Change:-

(a)  approves the revised opening hours of 9.30am to 5.30pm (1st April to 30^th September) and 9.30am to 3.30pm (1^st October to 31^st March) from 1^st April 2021 for Sheffield’s Household Waste Recycling Centres, as outlined in the report; and

(b)  approves the Council issuing a notice of change to Veolia to reflect the change of opening hours.

Opening the sites earlier will better align the site opening hours with public demand, enabling access to the sites earlier than 10am.

Although the 9am opening time option attracted a slightly higher ranking score, the 9.30am opening time provides the best balance between the polarised consultation responses, recognising that whilst 54% of respondents indicated a preference for a 9am opening time, a considerable 38% of respondents indicated a preference to keep the 10am start time.

Unlike the 9am start time, opening the sites at 9.30am will avoid the worst of the morning peak time traffic caused by commuters and the school run, and will prevent additional traffic adding to the peak time traffic volumes.

In order to provide the public with clear and consistent opening times, it is also recommended that the Winter Opening hours be changed from 10am to 4pm, to 9.30am to 3.30pm, to align the opening time with the Summer opening hours.

As part of the public consultation, residents were asked to rank their first, second and third preferences for the following site (Summer) opening time options:-

o   9am to 5pm

o   9.30am to 5.30pm (recommended option)

o   10am to 6pm

Although the 9am to 5pm option was marginally the highest-ranking option in the public consultation, this option was rejected due to the polarised nature of the responses, with a significant 38% of respondents wanting to keep the later 10am opening time.

This option was also rejected because of concerns that residents driving to a site in readiness for the 9am opening, would add to the existing commuter and school rush hour traffic, further increasing queuing and journey times.

The 10am to 6pm option represents no change to the current opening hours.  This option was rejected because it attracted the lowest ranking score of the three options considered in the consultation.  However, in making the recommendation for a 9.30am start time, it was recognised that a considerable 38% of respondents indicated a preference to keep the 10am start time.