New hours to be introduced at West Lothian Recycling Centres

The aim is to enable the council to retain all five CRC sites, with at least two sites open each day between 10am and 6pm and all open every Saturday and Sunday.

A booking system will also be in place for vehicles in advance of the changes; householders will be able to book a slot on the council’s website, although the system is not yet available.

For those that cannot book online, customers will also be able to make bookings via the Customer Contact Centre. Bookings for all visits will be made available one week in advance of the new hours being implemented. A similar system is already in place in Falkirk and Edinburgh.

CRCs are only licensed to accept domestic household waste and cannot accept commercial waste.

The changes were part of a number of measures that the council had to make in order to balance its budget. The council needs to meet a £43.4 million budget gap over the next five years caused by the Scottish Government’s funding grant not being enough to meet increasing costs and demand for services.

Tom Conn, environment and sustainability executive councillor, said: “By reducing opening hours we are able to ensure our limited budget is used to keep all five CRCs in West Lothian open and don’t have to consider the closure of any sites. West Lothian will continue to have more CRCs than other local councils, especially when you compare us against councils of a similar size and population."

“In Falkirk, for example, there are two CRCs. Both are also open part time and both have moved to an online booking system. This highlights that this isn't a decision West Lothian faces alone.

“We simply cannot continue to deliver the same level of service with the levels of funding available.

“It is not the case that councils want to cut services but we have to work within budget and, unless there is more funding, we are forced to make tough decisions.

"The introduction of a booking system has several benefits for customers who want guaranteed access, with less queues to enable a quick turnaround on their visit.”