Ilkley Town Council [ITC] voted at a meeting on Monday to reject a proposal to bid for the former site of the Household Waste Recycling Centre [HWRC] on Golden Butts Road, which was closed by Bradford Council [BMDC] in April 2024.
A working party within ITC had been looking at options to purchase the site from BMDC and run a recycling centre, but at the voting stage only the Conservative Councillors voted for the proposal.
Cllr Andrew Loy and Cllr David Nunns released a statement on Facebook saying: “A very depressing meeting of Ilkley Town Council this evening.
"Despite all the work we have put into developing a proposal to purchase the site and run a recycling centre, the Town Council has rejected our proposal to bid for the Golden Butts Road site - effectively ending any efforts to reinstate or provide an alternative to the HWRC.”
Town Mayor, Cllr Damian Kearns has given the following statement:
"The closure of the HWRC is deeply regretted by residents and the Town Council alike. Over recent months a cross-party working group of councillors has explored the possibility of re-opening the facility or introducing some form of mitigation. Local Councils cannot do anything which is not permitted by legislation, and unfortunately, legal advice from both the National Association of Local Councils and an independent barrister was that this was beyond the powers of ITC and therefore not legal.
“The HWRC site is now up for sale and the Council considered making an offer, but rejected the proposal on the grounds that it would involve incurring a debt of hundreds of thousands of pounds to be paid off over fifty years, a burden on future generations that a majority of councillors did not wish to impose, particularly in light of the legal advice.”
A spokesman for the Conservative councillors said:
“Given continuing cost of living pressures, we have consistently argued for restraint when setting the budget and precept, so we are pleased that we have managed to reduce a proposed 23pc precept increase in the initial draft budget to an increase of only 3pc.
“However, we are concerned that £40,000 has been set aside in an ill-defined ‘Community Reserve’. The proponents of this have given vague and inconsistent explanations of how it will be used, leading us to the suspicion that it is simply a slush fund for pet projects.
“We are also extremely disappointed that our proposal to submit an offer to buy the Golden Butts Road HWRC site was rejected. No one is denying it would be difficult to reinstate a functioning recycling centre, but we are confident it would have been possible and were prepared to put in every effort to make it work.
“The council’s community consultation suggested that an overwhelming majority of residents would have supported an attempt to reopen the site. The arguments from opposing councillors were mainly based on a selective and contested interpretation of a legal opinion. Now that the council has rejected a purchase of the site, all options for reinstating or replacing the recycling centre have sadly been closed off.”
Ilkley Town Council ran a community consultation over the summer of 2024, which showed the overwhelming issue for residents was the closure of the HWRC, with 93.7% of respondents in favour of ITC reinstating a local Household Waste Recycling Centre in Ilkley.
BMDC last year rejected a request for a Community Asset Transfer of the site to ITC and announced that the site will be sold, inviting offers from all interested parties.