Marchwood and Somerley tips saved in Hampshire County Council cabinet decision, but school crossing patrols at Blackfield, Holbury and Lyndhurst still under threat
TWO New Forest tips threatened with closure will remain open after the county council’s cabinet rejected plans to close 12 sites across Hampshire.
As reported, the recycling centres at Marchwood and Somerley were set to as close next year as part of a Hampshire County Council plan to address a £175m budget shortfall for 2025/26.
New Forest District Council had objected to the plans, and Cllr Geoffrey Blunden had made written representations to the authority, in his role as NFDC’s cabinet member for environment and sustainability. This was coupled with direct discussions to highlight Forest residents concern, between the leader of Hampshire County Council Cllr Nick Adam-King and NFDC leader Cllr Jill Cleary.
At a cabinet meeting yesterday (Monday) HCC cabinet members rejected the controversial proposals to close 12 tips, and also delayed making a decision on plans to save £114,000 by axing 17 school crossing patrols until further assessments are carried out.
HCC decided on a the future of a range vital services after considering public comments and councillors’ recommendations.
Speaking afterwards, Cllr Geoffrey Blunden said: “I am pleased to hear the county has listened to its district colleagues, and will be keeping Marchwood and Somerley recycling centres open for our local community.
“The centres provide a fantastic resource supporting residents to recycle and reuse, and align with our goals to improve recycling, reduce waste, and meet binding Net Zero 2050 targets.
“As we work on plans to rollout a new and improved waste collection service from 2025 to 2026, we look forward to continuing work with Hampshire County Council and other local authorities to boost recycling rates and reduce our impact on the environment.”
Lymington mayor Jack Davies was one of three Liberal Democrat councillors who launched a campaign to keep the tips open.
Responding to the decision, he said: “I’m pleased that the council listened to residents who wanted to keep the tips open but it should never have been up for discussion.
“The previous Conservative government underfunded local councils for year and created this mess. I hope this new Labour government undoes some of that damage and provides more funding for councils.
“Otherwise we will be having this discussion again in a year’s time. Without additional funding from government, this will only be a temporary stay of execution.”
A decision over a plan to axe 17 school crossing services – including three in the New Forest – was deferred. The lollypop crossing near Blackfield primary, on Exbury Road/Hampton Lane in Blackfield; near Cadland Primary and Manor CofE Infant schools at Studley Avenue/Lime Kiln Lane in Holbury; and on the A35 High Street in Lyndhurst, near Saint Michael and All Angels Infant School, were set to end in April 2025. This would have saved around £6,000 per crossing, but the county council has now asked for more information before making a decision.
The council also will not end the homelessness grant in April 2025 as previously proposed. Instead, as the select committee recommended, the funding will end at the same time as the contract, being the date April 2026.
County council leader Nick Adams-King said the administration realised that some of the proposals were not going to be “workable”.
He said: “As we’ve gone along, we recognised that some of the proposals in their first form that we put before us about a year ago now, were not going to be workable.
“We need to focus upon those people who need our support the most, and that is the purpose of looking at these savings.”
Referring to the financial situation, the leader said that by approving the 13 proposals, the council met 50% of the £175m it needed.
He said: “The work will now continue to examine other ways of bridging that gap.
“I think it’s important to remember that £175 million isn’t just a one-off; that’s not just next year; it’s the following year and the year after that as well. It is a recurring gap that we would have unless we can deal with it.
“So we go forward with looking at ways by which we can innovate better. We can use our estate and be more commercial in what we do, and we can transform the way in which we operate and make savings that way, that’s a piece of work that has been ongoing for some months now and will continue to be carried out as we approach the budgeting in February.
“But what I can say is that as we look at those different savings it’s my intention that we shouldn’t need to look and savings of the type where they impact the public in the way that we’ve looked at today.”
In his speech, he also pledged to the new government to change legislation so that councils across the country could become sustainable themselves.
“Our ask for the government is not to give us more money. It’s to provide us with the changes in legislation and the different ways of working in which we can become sustainable ourselves.”
The 13 proposals:
• Planned highway maintenance – a reduction of £7.5m in the annual highway maintenance budget from April 2025.
• Highways winter services – reducing the annual budget for highways winter services by £1m.
• Passenger transport – removal of the passenger transport funding of a value of £587,000; Connect, taxi-share services saving £157,000 per annum; supported local bus services saving £262,000 per annum; other passenger transport savings £168,000 per annum
• School crossing patrols – Cabinet agrees to defer the decision to save £114,000m from the 17 sites that do not meet the criteria for justifying an SCP until further detailed site assessments have been carried out. 156 SCP sites will be reviewed to assess whether suitable alternative measures that are financially viable could be put in place.
• Rural countryside parking – Implementation of charging at rural countryside car parking sites wholly owned by the council with 20 or more spaces where commercially viable from April 2025.
• Street lighting – removal of up to £500,00 budget provision for street lighting. On residential streets where streetlights are already switched off between 1am and 4am, this period is extended by two hours per night so that lights are switched off from midnight until 5am, excluding the night of December 24 into December 25, and the night of December 31 into January 1, when the lights would remain on all night. Reduce lighting levels in residential streets between 11.30pm to midnight and 5am to 5.30am; and reduce lighting levels on the classified road network.
• Household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) – cabinet does not agree to the closure of HWRCs in Tier 3 and Tier 4 and requested that they be included in the country-wide review of waste and recycling to be reported to cabinet once the revised Simpler Recycling process has been implemented.
• Competitive (one-off) grant schemes – withdraw three competitive grant schemes which provide one-off funding grants to a range of community groups and organisations, parish and town councils, totalling £481,000
• Hampshire Cultural Trust grant – reduce the annual grant to Hampshire Cultural Trust by £600,000 from April 1, 2027.
• Homelessness support services – the county council does not end funding for Homelessness Support Services on April 30, 2025. HCC will also give six months’ notice to terminate the six contracts and three grant agreements to bring to an end on March 31, 2026. That any person using HCC homelessness who would be impacted by the measure now or in the future, will have access to a Care Act Assessment.
• Adult social care charges – To take into account 100% of an individual’s assessable income when carrying out a financial assessment for care other than in a care home and amend the ‘Paying for Care Policy’ from April 2025.
• Adult social care grant schemes. To cease the Councils for Voluntary Service Infrastructure Grant scheme from April 1, 2025, saving £500,000 per year from the associated budget. To cease the Citizens Advice Infrastructure grant scheme from April 1, 2025, saving £65,000 per year from the associated budget. To cease the Local Solutions Grant scheme from April 1, 2025, saving £55,000 per year from the associated budget.
• Library stock – to reduce stock spend by £250,000 per annum focusing on the following priorities, identified by residents and users from feedback through the Future Services Consultation.
