Controversial East Sussex rubbish tip booking system launched

The new system, which went live on Monday, November 24, means that East Sussex residents will need to book in advance before visiting any of its 10 household waste recycling sites.

The proposal for the new booking system was agreed by Cllr Claire Dowling, East Sussex County Council’s lead member for transport and environment, on February 24.

The council said the change is expected to save around £50,000 per year, reduce queuing and discourage non-East Sussex residents (who would be made to pay a fee) and businesses from using the service.

But the proposals had proven to be highly controversial with residents.

The council ran a public consultation on the proposals between October and December last year.

The consultation received 5,992 responses, which a report to Cllr Dowling noted to be the highest number of responses ever submitted to a consultation run by the council’s Communities, Environment and Transport department. The vast majority of these consultation responses (91 per cent) were negative.

According to the report, most respondents raised concerns about the “inconvenience” of the change.

The council had also received a petition opposing the changes, set up by the Lewes Liberal Democrats. The petition argued the changes were “unnecessary” and risked “making waste disposal more complex and less accessible.” The petition also argued the change could result in an increase in fly-tipping.

The report to Cllr Dowling said the petition had been signed by 2,276 people at the time it was submitted, although a Liberal Democrat spokesman said the petition had gathered more than 3,500 signatures by the time of the meeting.

Officers had recommended approval, saying the booking system would reduce the authority’s funding gap.

The report also pointed to attitudes reported by neighbouring authorities, which have already introduced similar arrangements.

In the report, a council spokesman said: “From the consultation results, the vast majority of those that responded do not want a booking system. However, the experience of neighbouring authorities who have introduced systems has been that some residents do not want the system to begin with, but then become accustomed to it.

“In June 2021, after implementing their scheme one year previously, Kent County Council asked 5,866 of their household waste site users how positive or negative would you feel about using the booking system in the future. 84.9 per cent responded that they would be ‘extremely or quite positive’ about using one.”